


Bully

by impassiveimp



Series: For better or worse [1]
Category: Dead by Daylight (Video Game)
Genre: Bottom Ace, M/M, The David/Ace stuff is only faintly there
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-22
Updated: 2019-03-01
Packaged: 2019-09-25 00:30:41
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 32,016
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17111021
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/impassiveimp/pseuds/impassiveimp
Summary: Jake develops an unexpected urge.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I haven’t written anything in a while, but i’ve recently really gotten into this game and found an alarming lack of Ace being fucked stupid. So here’s my first step in contributing.

It started, inevitably, during a rough round with the Doctor. 

The trial had begun with four people as per the norm, and then had whittled away to two.

Jake wouldn’t have said that he was surprised he was one of the remaining duo given how light on his feet he was and how calm the crows were around him. Compared to whoever was left, he was practically silent. In the distance he heard an explosion, signaling another bad crossed wire. This was followed by the caws of disturbed birds and Jake mused, as he worked on a different generator, that he knew who the source was.

Claudette had been taken nearly immediately towards the beginning of their time on the farm and Meg was too quiet and fast to cause such a ruckus. It soured his mood even further to know that he was stuck with two unfinished generators, a chuckling murderer, and Ace Visconti. 

Every round he suffered through with the older man, was a round he could have done without. His issue wasn’t without merit; Ace was loud and flashy, and had a penchant for getting himself into trouble he couldn’t quite outrun. All of these were qualities that were, in Jake’s opinion, a detriment to any workable group that was trying to survive. Perhaps it could’ve been more forgivable if the man was at the very least apologetic when he inevitably made a bad situation worse, but instead the other survivors were treated to a devil may care grin and shrug every time.

Smaller footsteps tapped hurriedly across the ground near Jake’s location and he instinctually peeked around the corner of one of the numerous wooden blockades. Just as he had suspected, he spotted Ace running as fast as he could with a wound to his side. Half a second later and the Doctor came into view, giggling and stalking after the smaller man at a much faster pace.

Jake waited a breath before creeping after them, but made sure to keep a healthy amount of distance so as to not be spotted immediately. He didn’t have to move far. There was a short scream and then the loud exhalation of the breath being knocked out of someone roughly. He moved as close as he was willing to, braced against a metal bin with enough room to catch sight of the two between bales of hay. Though he didn’t think there would be an opportunity to rescue the other man, it never hurt to at least scope out the situation.

Ace was on the ground, groaning and clutching his stomach as his legs feebly tried to gather underneath him. He was dripping sweat, patches of it darkening his ruffled shirt past his coat and sticking his hair to his face. The Doctor looked down at him in amusement, swiftly moving to a crouch to hover over the prone form. However, instead of scooping Ace up, he gently reached down to grasp the other man’s head in his giant hands. 

A second ticked by where Jake could see Ace’s eyebrows scrunch up in confusion, his grimace of pain wobbling into something more vulnerable. Fear. There was no grin in sight, no careless attitude to brush off the situation. The Doctor leaned in closer, breathing heavy and excited in the otherwise quiet night, and pulled Ace’s head closer as though he wanted to force the man to look him in the eyes. The eyes—Jake noticed abruptly that Ace’s sunglasses were laying on the ground, knocked off by the fall.

It made the older man’s face feel genuine, more readable. It also abruptly made something hot spark in the pit of Jake’s stomach to witness that vulnerability. Later, he would be unable to pinpoint exactly what about the situation had aroused him so suddenly, other than he wanted to see the man flustered and at the mercy of another again. 

The Doctor’s hands began sparking violently with the tell tale signs of an electric surge building up, Ace’s head still trapped between them. Jake looked away and put distance between he and the other two, trying hard to ignore Ace’s panicked groans and then pained screams. After one breath, two, then three, he fell silent. 

****

Jake avoided Ace after the trial, though the older man didn’t notice given than he hardly ever spoke to him. The only person who majorly seemed to catch on to the fact that something was wrong was Dwight, who was always the first to catch on when someone was brooding. Lucky for him, Dwight had never been a very confrontational man and didn’t start now.

The downside to the lack of speaking, however, was how much free time that gave him to observe Ace. He tried to convince himself that he was this way with everyone, and that it was due to guilt, but the mental arguments felt flimsy when he was drawn to the older man’s subtle fidgets and tells. 

“Well?” Ace’s familiar smarmy voice pulled him out of his thoughts and back to watching him grin widely at Bill, waiting patiently for the other man to hold or draw a card.

Bill scowled and scrutinized him, but like with most instances, Ace’s sunglasses hid his eyes and his hat shadowed the rest. With a grunt Bill slapped his cards down, revealing a ten and a nine, then leaned back and crossed his arms. Ace’s lips parted in mock shock (which made Jake’s grip on his own crossed arms tighten), but then was swiftly replaced by a fox-like smirk as he laid out double tens with a flourish.

The others listened to Bill cuss up a storm, fed up with losing the card game, while Ace reshuffled his deck. 

“You cheatin’ bastard!” Bill accusingly prodded a finger towards Ace’s chest, who peered over the top of his sunglasses with an innocent stare.

“Why, I would _never_!” The point was rendered moot as a card fell out of Ace’s sleeve when he tried to gesture towards himself, “Oh, uh, where’d that come from?”

Bill, much to the delight of the other survivors, kicked Ace’s seat over. Jake was the only one who remained silent, mulling over the way Ace’s grin faltered and his hands fumbled with the deck when he was caught. 

****

Every survivor had habits while they were in trial or anticipating the beginning of one. For Meg it was to adjust and readjust her sneakers, constantly toeing the backs of them and shifting her weight around. Nea had a habit of picking at her cuticles and scratching her neck. Ace rubbed things together like poker chips and constantly shifted his clothing around like he wasn’t satisfied with the way they laid on his body.

Waiting for the Entity to pull them into another realm, smoke gathered around his ankles and growing? Ace was straightening his sleeves over and over.

Keeping an eye on a killer to pinpoint when exactly it was safe enough to venture out into the open and save another survivor hanging off a hook? Ace was gripping the bill of his hat, pushing it up and then down like wind kept knocking it out of place.

Curled in on himself behind a tree after narrowly avoiding being detected by the same killer? Ace was tugging nervously at his collar and airing his shirt out as best as he could, sweat slicking his adam’s apple while it bobbed anxiously in his throat.

Jake _especially_ liked to catch a glimpse of that last one. 

“You okay, man?” Nea’s whispers startled him out of his staring enough to make him twitch minutely, breaking his gaze long enough to shoot an annoyed glare behind him at the girl. 

He received a puzzled look in return, Nea’s hands hovering over his back but wisely not touching without permission. Had he really been acting that strangely? Jake looked back across the short stretch of field to the other tree that Ace was still huddled behind and realized that for the first time, the older man had noticed him staring and was making a vague hand motion that Jake assumed meant he also wanted to know if he was alright.

Years of learning to school his facial expressions kept Jake from making any sort of movement that would construe guilt. He twitched his head silently towards the prone body of Meg, limply hanging off of a hook. Luckily for him, the coast was finally clear and he had room to brush off the inquisitive stares of the other survivors and step out into the open air quietly.

After the trial, Nea sidled up to him while they all waited for the extra hours it would take for Meg and Ace to rejoin them. Death during the ordeals never fixed itself quickly, and while no one could ever remember what happened after they drew their last breath, it had become normal that given three or fours hours any lost companion would inevitably stagger back into the campsite. Nea fiddled with her fingers, uncertainty rolling off of her in waves. She never tried to pry into Jake’s business before, which was the only reason why he allowed her to get close now.

It took the girl a few seconds to collect her thoughts and obviously find a way to best phrase her question. She alternated between looking at him and the rest of the pack, all keeping themselves busy in their own ways to alleviate the boredom and the tension that came from waiting.

“Did...Ace do something to you?” She finally asked.

Jake inhaled sharply enough to warrant her looking at him again, this time more closely. A pinch began to form between her brows, genuine concern clouding her face and betraying her idea of what she thought had happened.

“He make some sorta racist remark or something? Because we can—“

“No.” Jake interrupted her and gave a small snort of laughter, “ _No_ , he didn’t do anything.”

Nea’s stare was skeptical at best and so Jake firmly continued, “Think I hit my head early on in the trial. I was having trouble concentrating the rest of the time.”

Finally the girl’s expression eased somewhat and shifted back into concern. It was kind of her to care even though it was worrying that someone had actually caught on to his recent favorite activity.

“Maybe you should let Claudette check you again. What if you have a concussion or something?” 

“I’m fine.” He sounded more clipped than he meant to, but Nea didn’t seem to take offense and nodded, backing off.

So.

Maybe things were getting a little out of hand. But he could handle it, just like he handled any inconvenience in his life.

****

Things continued to get out of hand.

There was a new survivor by the name of David King. If Jake had thought Ace was the equivalent of a flashing neon sign, David was similar to a foghorn that couldn’t be turned off. 

All survivors handled their unfortunate situation differently, especially in the beginning. Back when it had been only four of them, things had been different in terms of emotional outbursts. There had been tears, yes— copious amounts from Dwight specifically— but with only three companions to rely on they had been forced to adapt at a much faster rate than the others who followed.

On a sliding scale of his own coping mechanisms being avoidance and to bottle things up and Dwight’s inability to stop showing signs of endless oncoming nervous breakdowns, David King was a whirlwind of fury and pent up energy. To say that he reacted to his kidnapping into another realm poorly was an understatement. Jake had the misfortune of landing next to their newest companion first.

Like with the rest of them, David hadn’t been dropped in the comforting range of the campfire, instead he opened his eyes to one of the many hunting grounds of the killers with no explanation or recollection of how he got there. David decided almost immediately that Jake was part of the reason for his kidnapping and had taken a swing at him within the first five seconds of their eyes locking.

The curses that had been spat out of the man’s mouth were foul and, honestly, somewhat unintelligible with his accent. Jake received a black eye for that encounter and David received a busted lip, harsh enough to bleed an obscene amount down his chin and neck. It was luck that Laurie found them before any killer did and firmly broke up the fight, driving a bony elbow into David’s stomach and shoving Jake away. 

“Are you both out of your _minds_?!” She whispered, voice strained in her attempt to keep herself quiet, “Jake—go find a generator. You, you’re with me. Shut up and follow my lead.”

David, Jake had noted sourly, didn’t argue with the younger girl but shot him one last ugly glare.

In the end David got himself killed quickly and efficiently by a new predator, a beast of a woman humming a strange and unsettling tune. When they all finally reconvened by the fire, stuck waiting for the man to stumble out of the forest, Laurie purposefully struck up conversation with him.

“I expected better from you.” Her tone was dripping with disapproval and was loud enough to draw the attention from the few others marooned without a trial to be dragged through. 

Jake spotted Feng Min perking up behind Laurie, abandoning her card game with Ace to watch with interested eyes. Even worse was Ace following her example, though watching the proceedings out of his peripherals while he shuffled his deck rather than outright staring. He had to resist just ignoring Laurie out of an unusual amount of spite, prickly from the level of attention he was receiving and his throbbing eye healing slowly but surely. 

“Excuse me?” He snapped in return.

“A new person shows up and the first thing you do is punch him? I thought you were better than that!”

“He _started_ it!” Jake automatically felt childish from the argument but couldn’t find it in himself to care enough to stop talking, “Maybe if he hadn’t given me a black eye I wouldn’t have had to resort to self defence.”

“Maybe if _you_ had taken a second to explain the situation to him, he wouldn’t have felt the need to hit you in the first place!”

Their voices were growing steadily louder and heated as they shoved themselves into each other’s faces and Jake suffered a fleeting moment where he thought Laurie may try to give him a matching shiner. 

“Okay, break it up!” Ace placed himself between them, ironically mirroring Laurie’s stance from before, though with less of a predilection to strike out at either of them, “This isn’t helping anyone, so how bout’ someone explain what’s going on?”

Laurie huffed angrily but didn’t make another move to continue the argument. She crossed her arms and resettled her intense gaze on the older man, “We got another one and I found them fighting like a pair of boys!”

“I hate to break it to you, Laur,” Ace dryly remarked, “but it sounds like they _are_ a pair of boys.”

“You know what I mean, Ace!” Laurie threw her hands in the air in exasperation, “We all know how difficult the first trial is! And Jake handled it like—like—“

“Like what?” Jake tightly asked and Laurie’s mouth clicked shut into a grimace.

“Wha’ the el’ is goin’ on?” A familiar voice interrupted their proceedings and David himself staggered out from behind a tree, groggy from being brought back from the dead and healed from several hatchets impaling his body. It was way too soon for the new survivor to be back at camp, but perhaps this signaled the arrival of more change. There was a second where David seemed to forget that he had spoken as they all switched their attention to him, and he swayed in place, expression glazed over.

Ace whistled like he was calling a dog to attention and, surprisingly, David focused onto him.

“New guy, right? Name’s Ace Visconti.” Ace gave a flourish of a wave, “To whom do I have the pleasure of speakin’?”

Jake had to bite down the bitter surge of jealousy that washed over him when David blinked in confusion and then melted into some level of amusement. Somehow the brawler was calming down in Ace’s presence despite having just been murdered and brought back. He even ventured a few steps forward, to appraise the smaller man up close.

“David. David King. Y’ wanna tell me where we are?” David held out his hand and, upon Ace clasping it, tightened his grip and pulled the other in close, “Cause’ last I remember I wasn’t puttin’ up with a couple Americans.” 

Laurie inhaled as though she was about to intervene again, masking Jake’s own tensing. Before either of them could do anything, Ace merely widened his grin and gave David a half shrug.

“Your guess is as good as mine, amigo. We can give you the run down of what we’ve learned, but we ain’t got an easy answer for you.”

Against all odds David actually appeared to digest the answer and finally released his grip on Ace’s hand so that he could throw a meaty arm around his shoulders. He pulled the older man close with a smirk edging something mean, and tugged him over to the bonfire to sit them both down on one of the logs placed around it. 

“I like you, Ace.” David declared, “These two were givin’ me nothin’ but headaches, but you? You tell it like it is.”

Feng Min, having idely watched the entire spectacle, snickered behind a hand as Laurie puffed up like a threatened bird. David ignored them both in favor of continuing to invade Ace’s space and chat with him. 

“Well, I aim t’ please, Davey.” Ace gave him a conspiratorial wink as though they were life long friends, “But go easy on em’! We’re all in the same boat here n’ they only want to make sure you’re safe.”

David leaned, if possible, further into Ace’s personal bubble. Jake didn’t know if he replied to the man because the next thing he knew, his fist was once again crashing into the side of David’s face.

****

“It wasn’t my fault.” Jake broke the heavy silence that had been invading the space between he and Claudette. 

The botanist hummed in response, continuing the minor stitching that his head had required due to impact on a rock. Somehow this was worse than Nea inquiring if he was alright or Laurie yelling at him. It wasn’t accusational or supportive, merely a neutral ground for him to sweat over. 

It only took a few more moments for Jake to break in his own way, uncomfortable with the non-answers from Claudette, “He’s just an _asshole_.”

“Have you talked to him?” Claudette finally inquired, tying the end of the stitches closed with precise hand movements. Jake averted his eyes and nudged at a rock on the ground.

“...Apparently he doesn’t want to talk to anyone but Ace.” The statement came out more bitten than he meant it to be. If Claudette noticed she didn’t mention, which Jake was grateful for.

“Well Ace does have that effect on people.” The warm hands that had been carefully mending his skull drew back and reached for the small bowl of water nearby to clean themselves. “I think he even made you smile the first time you met, which was unusual.”

“No he didn’t.” Jake argued pointlessly, as he knew that he definitely had.

Again Claudette made a neutral noise in response and dried her hands, then folded the cloth the used into a neat square. She finally made an effort to make eye contact and gave him a small reassuring smile when he didn’t avoid her gaze.

“I think,” She delicately said, “that you should talk to him.”

Jake grimaced but didn’t argue.

****

_The air was humid enough to make him sweat, as well as his companion beneath him. Jake didn’t know how long he’d been hovering over the other, just that he needed to take his time. The longer he drew this out the more unraveled the other would become._

_He liked watching his companion squirm and curse beneath him, trying desperately to hold onto his sliver of control that he had left. It was...cute. A word that he wouldn’t normally associate with this person. It made him want to be meaner, to really drive the other insane._

_Jake had never felt this sort of desire before, back when he had tried dating girls. They had all been too nice, too delicate to try anything that wasn’t considered the norm. He felt relieved to be able to squeeze his fingers harshly into his companion’s sides, to sink his teeth into the meat of a thigh. He wanted to mark him up so badly that the other couldn’t produce anything but broken whimpers and desperate tears._

_He could do it too. He knew how to be patient and bide his time, much better than his companion. Jake slowly smiled, a sharp thing with too many teeth. He placed a hand around his companion’s neck and began to apply pressure as he teased the tip of the other’s cock again and again._

_Ace let out a choked whine, his own hands scrabbling at the one around his neck while his hips twitched helplessly towards the feather-light pressure on his dick. When he blushed, the color spread down past the collar of his shirt and up to the tips of his ears. Jake moved his grasp to reach past Ace’s swollen cock, fingers searching for—_

“You a’ight?” 

Jake startled violently awake to a large hand shaking his shoulder. His first reflex was to shove out at whoever was touching him, sending them stumbling back a step with a surprised grunt. By the time Jake’s brain caught up with his body he realized he was blinking wide eyed at David, who oddly didn’t make a move to shove back. 

There was no other sound outside of the distant crackling of the fire and the occasional rustle of the trees around them. Jake liked to sleep away from the others to provide himself some measure of solitude. Why was David here?

The man himself eased down into an unthreatening crouch and offered him an explanation to the obvious question hanging in the air, “Was my turn to take watch. You sounded like you were havin’ a nightmare, so…”

David awkwardly paused and rubbed his head, struggling with his words.

“Do y’need to...talk bout’ it?” His normally gruff voice had threads of embarrassment woven into it. Much like Jake, it seemed he wasn’t well practiced in talking about emotions. 

It was a pleasant surprise that the other man seemed to be offering a peace treaty, his own attempt at an apology for their horrific first meeting. Perhaps Claudette had talked some sense into him too.

“...No.” Jake forced himself to respond and not ruminate in petty silence, “It wasn’t a nightmare. I’m fine.”

“Not a nightmare, then wh—ah.” David’s expression morphed from confusion to something far more knowing than Jake was comfortable with. 

“Stop.” Jake huffed and narrowed his eyes.

“I didn’t do nothin’.” David’s tone was innocent but his eyes were alight with mischief. He held his hands up like Jake was in need of calming down.

“Whatever you’re thinking, _stop_.” 

“Right, right.” The other man trailed off only for a second before inhaling deeply and then shooting a grin at him, “But no one can blame y’ for ‘avin needs. Or for noticin’ nice tits when they’re right in front of you.”

Jake couldn’t stop the grimace that took over his face, but David plowed onwards smoothly, “Or ass. No judgement ‘ere, pal. We got a pretty good selection of lads and lasses stuck with us, may as well make the most of it, yeah?”

“Do you even listen to yourself when you speak?” Jake growled, hunched over himself and really wishing that this conversation had never happened.

“Oh what, m’ I supposed to be _embarrassed_ about this?” David drawled, “Look, so long as you ain’t called any dibs on someone I’m gonna notice whoever I damn well please.”

There was no proper response that could be given and so Jake settled with glowering at David. He only received a cheeky wink for his troubles and then David was standing with a grunt, brushing his pants off.

“I don’t think we’ll be havin’ any issues with sharin’, honestly. Unless you got a thing for older men.” David gave a hearty laugh and walked back towards the campfire, waving lazily over his shoulder.

Jake, for his part, decided that they actually _couldn’t_ get along and Claudette was going to have to deal with it.


	2. Chapter 2

“Che, _no te_ —what are you doing, you idiot?!” 

Jake flinched alongside Dwight as the two of them hovered over an injured Nea. She was in rough shape, already hooked once during the trial and still limping from her rescue. Neither of them were particularly skilled in repairing wounds; Dwight’s hands were too shaky and Jake was used to take things apart. Dwight was obviously the one being called out given that he was struggling to wrap the girl’s wounds properly while Jake looked on.

Ace scurried up to them as quickly and quietly as he could manage. The older man’s eyes were narrowed behind his shades and focused intently on Nea, who only tried to adjust her stance without causing too much pain to herself. Jake was relieved to put someone between he and the girl, but at the same time it was hard not to stare then at Ace’s back or ass. It was lucky for all of them that the killer hadn’t caught on to where they were currently hiding yet, because grouping together like this was never a good idea. 

Thanks to Ace’s odd amount of luck, he had scrounged around in a chest before finding them and located a medical kit. Even luckier that he also knew how to handle someone’s guts trying to exit their body. Maybe it should’ve been worrying once upon a time that Ace came into the trials with far too much experience when it came to patching someone up, but that was then and this was now. All survivor’s were lucky enough to be blessed with knowledge on how to fix up the strange generators of this realm, but not much else outside that. 

Normally any spare moments beside the campfire with another person who had the patience to spare were spent trying to teach valuable skills. Claudette had gotten to the point where she had to even decline folks at times because she was so worn thin with the trials and being the most knowledgeable about basic medical care. Any time someone was too insistent, Meg was always there to gruffly send them off, the bad cop to Claudette’s good.

“ _Fuck!_ ” Nea’s voice was a pained hiss that cut through Jake’s thoughts as Ace firmly tightened the bandages around her stomach. It only took another second to tie them off and then the older man was observing his work with a certain amount of seriousness despite the uncharacteristic scowl missing. 

“S’the best I could do since we ain't got anything to sew you shut right now. I’ll keep an eye out, yeah?”

The girl gave him a short nod as thanks, and immediately turned to put distance between their current hidey-hole, still faster on her feet than any of them could manage. There was only a small moment of hesitation from Dwight before he turned to follow without a word. It was a good plan from their reluctant leader, so that he could keep an eye out for Nea and hopefully finish generators faster, but it left Jake realizing he was now alone with Ace. By the time he glanced towards the older man, Ace was already eyeing him curiously, a smarmy grin back in place. 

“Guessin’ we should get moving unless you’re going to be a lone wolf?” There was dry amusement laced into his voice that made Jake simultaneously want to kiss the man’s smart mouth or gag it. 

He did neither and merely grunted at the smaller man, but gestured with his head as he began to move for the other to follow. There had somehow been no heartbeat during the entirety of the four of them coming together and then splitting up and so it occured to Jake, far too late, that perhaps that wasn’t because the killer was just having an off day. A twig snapped behind the pair as Jake waited for Ace to crawl through a windowsill and then the man was being snatched off of his perch, a large hand clamped down on the back of his neck and yanking him towards an even larger body.

Ace barely had time to shout in surprise before Michael Myers threw him over a broad shoulder, satisfaction oozing off the behemoth for catching one of his prey. He paused only to gauge the open window, but Jake knew he couldn’t see him from his own position flattened to the floor. 

“Oh, uh, hey there big guy.” Ace, despite his nervous sweating and squirming, still turned his head to address the killer with a half smile, “Fancy, ah, meeting you here?”

This was followed by a weak chuckle as Ace continued to try and wiggle his way free. Myers tilted his head towards the older man contemplatively, or perhaps it was exasperation, and then suddenly shook the other man roughly, cutting off anything else he tried to say to talk his way out of the situation. In only a few long steps he had a hook within reach and unceremoniously dumped Ace onto it.

Ace’s initial cry of pain had Jake balling his hands into fists from where he was stuck hiding, as did the choked off whimpers. Stupidly he only counted to ten before risking a peek over the bottom of the window, but was surprised to find Myers still standing before the older man, idly shifting the knife around in his hand. It was as though he was waiting to see if Ace had any more smart remarks on him, like he wanted the other to be finally speechless. 

“Ah,” Ace started and then had to take a moment to grind his teeth to muffle another cry of pain, grin still in place even if it was strained, “t-take me on a date first, buddy!”

Jake wasn’t sure what reaction Myers had other than he stiffened in place, his fidgeting with his knife paused. Whether or not Ace was some source of amusement for him or if he took offense to the seemingly nonchalant attitude the other man held was a mystery as he finally stalked away, intent on locating his other victims and leaving Ace to suffer. It was only thanks to Ace’s poor attempts to keep Myers attention on him that the killer apparently forgot that there had been another with him. Jake only waited a breath before he gingerly hauled himself out from his crouched position, legs aching minutely from the strain that had been put on them.

“Thought you left.” Ace wheezed as he crept over, “Would’a been the smart thing to do.”

“Quiet.” Jake muttered, refusing to look the other man in the eyes as he got his hands around his sides and lifted.

Ace didn't respond, but he did give a chuckle once he was safely on the ground, luck prevailing once again.

****

Maybe Jake was just more hyper aware of anyone interacting with Ace, whether it was friend or foe, but lately it seemed like the older man was catching the attention of more people than he liked. It was irrational to think this way but there was never a second where Ace was alone. If he was at the campfire he had Feng Min and David playing cards with him even though they knew he was near impossible to win against, if he was in a trial he had one or two other survivors sneaking around with him, hell, when he went for walks sometimes he managed to convince Bill to get off his ass and tolerate his presence for longer than five minutes. 

Had Ace always had this kind of effect on people? Was he always such a...magnet for attention?

The way Ace talked about his life before this, yes, he had. Any time he brought up another unbelievable tale about his previous exploits (always to an audience that felt free to boo and question the truth of the stories), it was filled to the brim with unique characters and movie-like situations. There was the billionaire who Ace often times parked a car for back when he had a brief stint being a valet in his teenage years, that he swore had definitely had the body of a woman in the trunk one night. There was the back alley veterinarian who would patch up anyone or anything given the right amount of money, who had once told Ace she had an entire book filled with secrets she could blackmail even politicians with (this, of course, was told to him as he was getting a busted nose reset due to circumstances that were definitely not his fault). There was even the line chef who Ace met during another stint, this time during his supposed college years, that he claimed was a former Black OPs member and had told Ace information that, he swore, even now he couldn't speak of or risk being labeled a traitor to his country. 

All in all, colorful individuals.

That wasn't to say this was all Ace talked about as his stories almost always also involved him ruminating on whatever drop dead gorgeous woman he happened to run into at the time and how he always ended up seducing them. Whether it was the daughter of the mayor who was just trying to live her own life, or the tragic widow who had inherited all of her husband's debts when he passed and now couldn’t make ends meet, Ace was always the hero to the story and rescued these damsels in distress with a cheeky grin and wink. Often times he was also rewarded with a kiss or, as Ace put it when he wasn't willing to expand on details with a teenager around, bedroom activities. 

Jake had hated when Ace talked about those parts of the stories at first, mainly because the idea of sharing the older man made his jaw clench and something inside him often growled in disapproval, but with time he found himself appreciating them more. There was never more of a Freudian slip that could be demonstrated than when Ace Visconti inadvertently outlined his preferences to his love life or lack thereof. It was safe to assume that the others didn't exactly summarize that Ace's encounter with a controlling bombshell of a woman meant he liked for others to lead when it came to sex, and maybe Jake was just projecting his desires onto the other man, but Jake found himself creating more and more of a mental checklist of things he wanted to do to the man. All of them were never going to be spoken of, but they definitely took front and center during his dreams. 

Sometimes Ace's ramblings made Jake think back to his old life--not the one before this where he was deep in the woods and his only companions were the bugs singing at night and the birds talking during the day, but the one where he still interacted with other human beings and had to tolerate his family. Though, the more he thought about it now, the more he realized many instances in his childhood actually lacked any family members and instead involved nameless maids or butlers. Back then he would lose his temper privately in his bedroom over feeling like his father was too overbearing and mother too submissive, which, well, they were, but they were more-so just...not actual parents. Just like his brother hadn't felt like an actual sibling since he was six and still thought the other boy could hang the moon. Maybe it shouldn't have ever been so easy for him to leave his biological family, but the woods had always oddly felt more comfortable than any room in his childhood house. 

The very fact that Ace was causing such a wide variety of emotions to churn around in the pit of Jake's stomach was alarming enough, but even worse was the level of effect he had on the others. Sure, they would gripe and moan about the fact that the older man was too chatty, but Jake had seen every single one of them relax when next to the man. Even David. _Especially_ David, despite his self proclaimed difficulty with getting along with others.

The Brit hadn't lied, not exactly. If there was anyone in the group liable to start a fight or throw themself into one, it was David. This fact hadn't earned him any friendship points to endear him to the others and most stayed away from the big man. The only members who ignored their self preservation instincts were Laurie and Ace. Laurie, in Jake's opinion, had an excuse since she had come into this world with experience already in dealing with violent men. 

"Oi, Acey, how'd it go?" David sat down heavily next to a recently returned Ace, his coat bloodier than usual and shirt torn along the side. He did this often and only with the older man. Apparently boundaries didn't exist when it came to the gambler and, frustratingly, Ace never pushed him away.

"How do you think?" While Ace's tone was amicable enough, there was underlying tension in his shoulders and the way he kept adjusting his position on the log he was sitting. "Hag really didn't wanna let me go."

David paused and eyed the other man thoughtfully, though Jake knew critical thinking wasn't his strong suit and wasn't surprised that he either didn't pick up on anything or ignored it. He slapped Ace's back in a way that he must have decided was friendly, but Jake tunneled in on the older man's wince and flinch. "Must be your good looks, yeah?"

If Ace responded Jake didn't hear, because he found himself yanking David's hand off of its perch on the gambler's shoulder. The small talk and idle chatter happening around the campfire died down during the seconds that ticked by after Jake realized he had exchanged his grasp on David's arm for putting a light hand on Ace's back. Most worryingly was the way that his face had narrowed to something dangerous and angry while he stood there.

"Jake, is everything alright?" Claudette carefully spoke up from the other side of the fire, pausing from checking Feng Min over. 

Jake looked between the two of them and then glanced down at Ace who didn't seem bothered by his sudden presence, just confused. He yanked his hand away as though it burned, even though he wanted nothing more than to drag the older man away from prying eyes, and shoved it into his pocket. 

"Yeah, I'm..." David was scrutinizing him harder than he had with Ace and it made something in Jake settle to know that he had gotten between them, "Ace looked like he was hurt."

Almost immediately Claudette’s gaze leveled onto Ace with an intensity born from having to take care of every member of their group. While she didn’t leave her position next to Feng Min, her presence spoke volumes enough to eventually make the gambler relent with a grumble that sounded suspiciously like he was calling them all nosey. With one of his hands he pushed his suit jacket aside to show display his reddened shirt sticking wetly to his side.

“Holy shit.” Feng Min breathed, “That doesn’t look good.”

“Yeah, well, give it time and it’ll patch itself up, just like all our injuries do.” Ace was fumbling to tug his careless persona back in place but failed in wake of Claudette huffing out a quiet curse and finally standing to make her way over to him.

“That doesn’t mean it won’t get infected and stay longer than it needs to.” She crossly answered, already pulling out a needle and thread. She paused in front of the man to shoot Jake a curious glance, long enough to remind him that he was still hovering behind the older man with a dangerous expression on his face.

Jake took a few steps back, movements calm and measured despite how he felt, and carefully ignored any stares he received. 

***

If someone were to ask Jake which of the killers he despised the most, he wouldn’t have a difficult time answering. 

The Wraith was a snarling husk of a man who had a penchant for sneaking up on him when he least expected it. At least with the other enemies they encountered in trials he was able to see where they were. With the Wraith he barely had time to react before the monster’s form burned into existence around him. 

Thus was the case in point now as he ran from a near slice to his back. He couldn’t keep going forever—he was in better shape than some of the other survivors but the Wraith wasn’t wholly human and had a knack for tracking. It was common sense to suddenly swerve in the humid air of the swamp, boots sliding and nearly slipping in the mud, and double back the way he came long enough to grasp the handle of a locker and shove himself inside.

It took only a moment to realize that he wasn’t alone in the confined space and his companion was currently squashed roughly between him and the back of the locker. It took only another moment for him to realize who exactly was with him as they hissed out a curse.

“ _Jesus_ —didn’t y’see this one was already occupied?” Ace’s voice was a strained whisper as he tried to shift himself without causing too much noise.

Jake suddenly found himself hyper aware of the wrong thing in his surroundings. Gone was the attempt to hear if the Wraith’s near silent footsteps were drawing closer, and instead was the need to fixate on the way Ace’s breathing stuttering off beat with his cramped position. He was trapped in a way that Jake had imagined before, body so much warmer than he’d ever pictured. 

“Hello? You get hit in the head or something?” The other man spoke up again, this time a little more hesitantly. His breath brushed against Jake’s cheek which meant he must have decided to crane his neck to try and assess him. 

Jake allowed himself to angle his head enough to see the outline of the other as his eyes adjusted. It would not be good if he suddenly sprouted an erection in the middle of a trial, but his body was seriously testing him. He wanted to clasp a hand to the back of Ace’s neck and pull him as close as possible. It would catch the gambler off guard, he knew, would give him enough time to dig his teeth into flesh and suck a mark onto him. Would Ace respond in the same shuddering way that he did when he spoke of certain dominant women he’d encountered in his life time? Would he arch into the feeling, helpless to prevent his reactions?

His hands tightened into fists on either side of the gambler’s prone form, itching to touch and pull and break. Ace was still waiting on him to respond. He could do this.

“Shut up.” Jake mumbled, and if he leaned closer than was necessary in order to speak directly into Ace’s ear, well, no one was there to witness it, “Wraith was right behind me.”

Ace stiffened, though whether it was from the sudden nearness of Jake’s voice or the instinctual fear from being potentially found was debatable. What was apparent was that the other man’s heartbeat picked up intensely and it felt like his legs were shaking minutely. 

“Don’t worry.” Jake found himself continuing, leaning if possible even closer into the gambler’s personal space, “If he finds us I’ll protect you.”

“Th-thanks. You sure are, uh, social lately.” Ace’s stutter was barely perceptible but Jake caught it and relished it like one would with a coveted prize. It eased something inside him, made his stomach fill with the beginnings of a lovely warmth. He wouldn’t point out the crack in Ace’s armor to allow the man some measure of perceived control. For now, at least.

“Guess I’ve gotten used to you.” Was all he simply said back.

When the two finally climbed carefully out of the locker, Jake pretended to not see the light dusting of pink on Ace’s cheeks. 

It was a start.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Welp, here’s a second chapter. Unsure of where I’m going with this outside of knowing that Ace needs to be fucked, so we’re probably heading in that direction.


	3. Chapter 3

“This place is new.” Claudette murmured as soon as the swirling mist left her form and she noticed Jake beside her. 

The only realm they'd encountered before that appeared so normal that, for a moment, they had wondered if they'd made it home, was Laurie's neighborhood. Or rather, the twisted version of it. All of the other places looked as though they had been abandoned for decades with ramshackle buildings falling apart and trees that stretched so high that they blocked the moon. This realm was similar to Laurie's, though the obvious difference was that it lacked numerous empty houses lining a solitary road. Instead everything seemed to be centralized around one large building.

If there was a new environment it most likely meant there was a new foe. They shouldn't have allowed themselves to stand in one place out in the open for so long, not when they didn't know what to expect. Jake gestured for Claudette to follow, staying low to the ground as they began the trek to find a generator.

There was always the fear of never finding one, of being put in a place where the entity didn't want to make things fair and only wanted bloodshed. But, just like all the previous places they'd had to survive in before, it didn't take long to notice moonlight glinting off a familiar metal surface. Claudette placed a hand on Jake's arm before they reached the generator, pausing their approach. Immediately he glanced around for oncoming threats but spotted none.

“Badham Preschool…” Claudette whispered, eyes wide behind her glasses.

Finally, Jake realized what the building exactly was and found himself turning away from the generator as well. He hesitated to follow Claudette, who was intent on entering the building as though entranced. 

Inside, things were...off. There were small desks and chairs, obviously meant for children of the appropriate age, and decorations on the walls for events that would be happening and the celebration of the season. It was unsettling to observe the crinkled paper of cut out letters, the small lockers where kids would hold lunchboxes and jackets. There was a hole in the ground that, upon peering down into it, sent up a surge of heat and masked their faces in a red glow.

Jake wanted to investigate what he assumed was the basement or boiler room beneath them, but something was wrong with the location. Something bad happened here, he could feel it, and the fact that it happened at a _preschool_ filled him with a measure of dread. When he looked up Claudette was staring back, the same amount of suspicion and worry creasing her brow. 

“Let's go back to the generator.” She hoarsely murmured and Jake didn't argue. He didn't want to be in here either.

Despite the heavy atmosphere of the preschool, he and Claudette were able to make it back to the generator and complete it without any sign of a killer. Somehow that was more worrying than being chased away or suddenly sliced by a weapon. Was the new enemy able to turn invisible like the Wraith? Or teleport like the Nurse?

Jake didn't like gambling with those odds and split away from Claudette. Besides, they would be able to complete the trial faster if they separated, and the sooner they left this place the sooner Jake would be able to shake the uncomfortable feeling weighing in the back of his mind.

Another generator sounded off while he was making his way to his second, which was bizarre and unexpected. What was going on? Where was the enemy? Did the Entity forget to send one in with them? 

If his fingers gripped the wires inside the chassis of the generator a little too tightly, he pretended not to notice. It wouldn't do to allow his nerves to get the best of him like they did with Dwight. Everyone was most likely on edge right now so he needed to stay level headed.

“Oh shit!” An unfamiliar voice broke him out of his concentration so abruptly that he accidentally electrocuted himself with the sparking wires in his hands, a curse erupting loudly from his mouth. So much for being calm. 

Jake whirled around to see another boy, pale with curly black hair. His face was round and oddly young looking for what he assumed was an older teenager, but his eyes were the most striking thing. The boy was _exhausted_ , and the circles under his eyes were deep and dark against his skin. The fact that there would most likely be a new survivor hadn't occurred to him somehow, even though they almost always seemed to come in pairs. What were the odds that he would be the first to encounter the newbie again? Ace would probably know. 

“Are...are you real…?” The boy's voice wavered nervously and he maintained a good distance between them, like he was expecting Jake to suddenly lunge at him and attack. 

Jake scowled more to himself while he inspected his burnt hand, “As real as this place, unfortunately. Name?”

“Wha--uh, what?” 

“Your name? I assume you have one?” Maybe he was being harsher than usual, but this whole place had put him on edge and his self inflicted injury didn't help.

“Quentin.” The other answered after hesitating, “Quentin Smith--what’s going on? This isn't...I mean, it's not like--”

“Jake.” He cut him off from his rambling only because he was beginning to sound a little like Dwight when he was panicking. Quentin blinked at him owlishly while he registered what he said, mouth still agape from talking. “You should close your mouth, bugs’ll fly into it.”

That was a lie. Bugs didn't exist in this place, not really. But it made Quentin clamp his mouth shut with a click, which was an improvement. The other visibly mulled over whether or not to come closer and seemed to eventually decide Jake wasn’t a threat, quietly creeping over a few more steps to crouch down next to him at the generator. He gestured towards Jake's arms elbow deep in the machine, with a confused expression on his face.

“What are you doing?”

“Fixing it.” Jake simply responded.

“I can see that, I just mean,” Annoyance bled into Quentin's tone, “why are you doing that? What's going on, this place isn’t a dream! I, uh, I think.”

A dream? Maybe the other was in shock with that sort of talk. If so, Jake didn’t blame him. Back when he’d first been yanked into this hell hole he’d also gone through a phase of needing more than anything for this to be a nightmare that he could wake up from. It wasn’t one, of course, and he’d learned to get over it. The new guy would have to as well.

Before he could say as much, he watched as Quentin yawned widely and then his head began to list to the side, like a puppet slowly getting its strings cut. Was this a symptom of shock? He couldn’t remember what Claudette had taught them and wasn’t sure if he should be doing something. Jake paused his work to turn towards Quentin, the boy’s upper body beginning to droop from the dregs of exhaustion wrapped around him.

“Are you okay…?” Jake trailed off, realizing he was feeling tired as well. Must be the adrenaline finally leaving his body.

“Wh—what?” Quentin sleepily and slowly blinked at him.

“I dunno, you’re, uh,” Jake yawned as well, “falling asleep, man.”

The sluggish air around Quentin stiffened and an odd amount of awareness and panic crashed into his posture alongside his groggy stature. The combination was unpleasant to witness as Quentin seemed to be unable to stop his eyes from drooping even as he grabbed onto Jake’s arm with a grip far tighter than he would’ve assumed.

“Shit—shit, wake me up!” Quentin’s voice cracked, “ _Wake me up_!!”

The atmosphere around the two of them dampened to such a humid state in a single second that it knocked the air out of the both of them, while all of their surroundings dropped any color and smoothed to slates of grey. The desire to sleep fled at the same time and Jake was hyper aware in that moment that they were not alone. He was front row to watching Quentin’s eyes widen in horror and disbelief, his mouth opening perhaps try and argue what his brain was comprehending.

There was someone standing behind Jake. It felt like he had a knife to his throat.

“Well aren’t you a sight for sore eyes.” It was a new killer, it had to be. But killers hadn’t ever spoken to the group of survivors before, “Miss me?”

Quentin inhaled sharply and stumbled back a step so hard that he nearly tripped in his haste to put distance between them. Jake wished that Claudette and he had decided to stick together. The situation felt entirely out of his control and it was continuing to spiral as he felt those knives tighten next to his jugular. 

“No.” Quentin whispered, “No! _No_ , how do you keep coming back?! Why won’t you just leave us alone?!”

“ _Us_?” There was no warning between the new killer speaking and his knives piercing through Jake’s back, startling a pained cry out of him, “Oh, you think _Nancy_ is here too, huh?”

Jake’s entire body burned as he was hauled off his feet as though he weighed nothing, and then deposited neatly next to a hook he hadn’t even known was there. He had just enough time to catch the face of the man, a grotesque painting of burn scars and a sharp, mean smile. 

“Be right back.” The man snickered down at him and then turned his attention back to Quentin who looked torn between running for it and trying to somehow save Jake. “You know Quentin, you were always a special boy, all caught up in your daydreams. I didn’t think you were this _stupid_ though.”

For every step away from the other man that Quentin took, the killer advanced another towards him, slowly but surely closing the gap. 

“Nancy isn’t here, Quentin. And y’know _why_ Nancy isn’t here?” The man cocked his head as though he was listening for an answer, but then bulldozed on when none came, “Because _you_ , Quentin, got us dragged into whatever the _fuck_ this place is. And now we’re stuck here, together. No Nancy, no parents, just you n’ me.”

The man lashed out fast with what Jake could see now was a glove with knife-like appendages on the fingers, quickly enough to snag Quentin’s shirt and send him careening towards the ground. There was something entirely too wrong with the situation—the two were too familiar with each other, and if it was anything like Laurie and Myers, he needed to separate them. Jake wasn’t sure how exactly he was going to accomplish that with his insides trying to leak outside, but it would have to happen soon with the way the scarred killer straddled Quentin’s prone form and hovered his deadly appendages above the boy’s head.

Quentin yelped and raised his own hands up fast enough to try and fend the other off, to no success. When it came to strength, unfortunately, there was no contest between survivor and hunter. 

“That’s okay though Quentin,” The man crooned and Jake felt a shiver of disgust run up his spine as he watched him stroke Quentin’s face with his other hand, “We can make do. We got all the time in the world to _play_ , over and over again.”

“Oh, fuck off.” Jake’s words froze the man and turned his attention back onto him.

“Excuse me?”

“I don’t know who you are, but things work a certain way around here. And you aren’t gonna get to just do whatever you want.” Jake realized faintly that he was channeling David’s bravado in the moment but couldn’t find it in him to care. If this guys attention was on him, then it was off of Quentin and also off of Ace, who was creeping towards the altercation with a confused but determined look on his face. 

“And who’s gonna stop me?” The man wondered aloud, an amused smile twisted onto his face, “Yo—“

Ace’s flashlight crashed into the side of the man’s head with such force that it knocked him off of Quentin, sending him crashing to the ground with a startled grunt. Quentin looked just as surprised as his attacker did, though immediately pulled himself into a scrambling crawl away, sneakers scuffing on the pavement. From the way Ace was frantically looking around for what he just hit while he protectively stepped in front of the boy, it became apparent that he couldn’t see their assailant.

“Go.” Jake croaked, knowing full well that he couldn’t get up in his state and the two couldn’t waste time, “ _Go_!”

Ace shot him one horrified and concerned stare before grinding his teeth together and grabbing Quentin by the elbow to force him to take off in a run with him. The boy was definitely shouting protests but he couldn’t wiggle free from Ace’s grip on him and they soon disappeared from view. A brief moment of silence followed their escape, wherein Jake wondered when exactly he had started to care this much for the safety of his fellow survivors. 

And then the new killer got to his feet with a dramatic groan, brushing his shirt off and peering down at him with annoyance written on his face. It only took a few steps to clear the distance between them and crouch down before him.

“Freddy.” The man said.

“What?”

“You were askin’ for names. Mine’s Freddy, _Jake_.”

How long had this guy been standing there without either of them noticing? Dread pooled unpleasantly in the pit of Jake’s stomach and his breath faltered. Freddy watched him with keen eyes, a smile working back onto his face like he was witnessing a particularly unruly child act ridiculous.

“Catch you later.” And then the knives were plunged back into his chest with such ferocity that Jake didn’t have time to register the foreign appendages piercing through his lungs and searching for his spinal cord to snap. He had lost so much blood and the world was going fuzzy around the edges, brain thankfully numbing itself to his body being shredded. 

Oh, so _this_ was what Claudette meant when she described people going into shock.

***

Awareness trickled back to Jake in a particularly unpleasant stream. One moment he was floating weightless in a void, and the next he remembered that he had aching feet and hands that were weathered from the hard labor that came with surviving. Coming back from dying never sat well with him in the sense that sometimes it had felt better to not have a body to worry about. 

The forest was nearly silent which could only mean that the Entity had dumped him a good ways away from camp. Perhaps that was for the best considering he needed to relearn how to walk and talk and generally be a living human again. 

Jake wasn’t sure how much time passed between him finding his footing and wandering through the dark woods, just that eventually warmer colors began to bleed onto the bark of the trees and then he could feel the warmth of fire. It was surprising to hear several voices call his name, unusual enough to make him finally lift his head and peer towards the campfire. Everyone seemed to be there which was a unique enough situation in itself, but everyone had also taken the moment to stare at him as well.

“...What?” 

“Jake!” Claudette’s voice reached him first as she quickly walked over to him, though didn’t touch him quite yet. “I heard what happened.”

Oh. Right. Jake grimaced as the reason of how he died came flooding back. He cleared his throat before speaking, vocal cords feeling rusty and unused. 

“Did he get anyone else?” He hoarsely asked and wished everyone would stop watching him like he was an alien. 

“No.” Claudette shook her head and grimaced, “Though not for lack of trying.”

Well...that was. That was something. Did it make him a bad person that he was more relieved to hear Ace hadn’t died thanks to his own lapse in judgement than the thought of anyone else being killed? Probably. He couldn’t find it in him to care. 

Everyone was continuing to stare at him like they were expecting him to say something. It made his skin prick uncomfortably. Claudette came to his rescue with a very pointed glare at all the others, forcing them to turn back to their previous activities with awkward and guilty expressions all around. She only pat his shoulder lightly once, and then she was visibly forcing herself to not check him over and instead go back to sit with Meg. 

Jake continued to mutely stand in place, oddly unsure of how he wanted to proceed. He had never acted like that towards a killer before, and especially never put himself in any major harms way when it came down to it. How was he supposed to act aloof now?

“Hey.” Ace’s voice drew him out of his head, his tone was oddly subdued. 

Jake looked at him, studied the scruff on his face and the way his hair was growing messily, sticking out from under his worn down baseball cap. An overwhelming desire to ground himself via dropping to his knees and blowing the older man until he was crying and pleading to be allowed to come washed over him. He wasn’t aware of the fact that he was leaning into Ace’s space until a familiar flush of pink colored on Ace’s cheeks, half hidden by his goatee. 

“Hey.” Jake focused his gaze onto the eyes he could see even with the glasses in place. Ace didn’t move away, he was pleased to note.

“Everyone’s actin’ all weird cause’ you were the hero of the hour, y’know.” The older man grinned, and for a few seconds it was contagious and made Jake want to smile right back.

“Everyone?” Jake parroted and stood a little straighter if only to watch Ace have to adjust to look up at him.

The gambler caught on to his question and looked half a second away from denying the implication, but then changed his mind and let his grin widen, “Yeah, everyone.”

“Guess they’re not used to me yet.” Jake said, inching just a little closer.

“Guess not.” Ace replied, the color heating his face even more. And Jake was going to do it, he was going to grab this man by his stupid coat and drag him into the woods where everyone would be able to know what they were doing, what Jake was doing to Ace—

“Um,” A familiar awkward voice shattered the moment like glass, “Jake, right?”

Quentin was lucky that Jake had a better hold over his temperament than someone like David or Meg, because he could have decked the teen for walking in on this moment. But he took a deep breath and tried not to feel angry over watching Ace suddenly jerk away and take a step back, pointedly turning his attention to the young man and allowing his neutral expression to fall back into place. 

“Yep.” Maybe he popped the p a little too hard given that Quentin looked like he was having second thoughts, but it was too late to stop the conversation from happening.

“I just...I wanted to say thanks. For helping me out with, uh,” Quentin trailed off. 

“With Freddy.” Jake concluded.

Quentin flinched like the name physically pained him but nodded, “Yeah. With Freddy. You guys don’t know how long he’s been a pain in our—er, _my_ ass. They kept telling me you’d come back but, well.”

“You get used to it.” Ace offered helpfully. Quentin’s expression was dubious at best.

“Right, well. _Anyways_. I’m sorry you had to deal with him, he’s...he’s a handful.” 

That was an understatement. Still, Quentin had the same apologetic air about him that Laurie got whenever any of the other survivors had to deal with her brother. It made Jake feel uncomfortable and wish that things could’ve been different in a small way, that they could’ve been lucky enough to not be hunted by persons they already knew. 

“Guessing you have history?” He pointed out the obvious. Quentin gave a small bitter laugh while his fingers fumbled with his necklace, rubbing circles into the jewelry like it was a safety blanket. 

“You could say that. Usually he’s more interested in...well, anyways, it wasn’t me that he was obsessing over in the beginning. But I guess this’ll be how it is for now.”

Neither he nor Ace even tried to broach the unsaid topic of whoever this Nancy was. Best case scenario it had sounded like Quentin had gotten both he and Freddy marooned away from her, worst case scenario she was dead thanks to Freddy and Quentin was all that was left. Both were unpleasant to consider and way to deep a topic for him to handle.

“Anyways,” Quentin’s voice cracked a little, “Thanks. I’ll, uh, I’m gonna just try to keep learning everyone’s names.”

With an awkward nod of his head, the teen turned and quickly headed back towards the campfire. Ace chuckled beside Jake, delighted by the horribly uncomfortable exchange. 

“Man, you don’t go easy on anyone, huh?” He dryly asked.

Jake half heartedly shrugged, “Some people appreciate it more than others.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I recently watched the Nightmare remake to get a grasp of Quentin’s character before I had to write him and tbh...I kind of prefer it over the original which feels like a sin to say. 
> 
> Anyways, this chapter was done super quick because of that and because I wanted to keep Freddy sorta...contained within one chapter if I could manage it. The next update prrroooobably won’t be so quick but hey, fingers crossed. :^)


	4. Chapter 4

There were two things to remember when playing cards with Ace: one, no one liked a sore loser, and two, Ace _always_ cheated.

It was almost a rite of passage for each new survivor to lose some item they found during a trial to the gambler. It wasn’t as though the man ever kept what he won, but he couldn’t give back a person’s lost pride when he inevitably shot them a cheeky smile and revealed his winning hand. Feng Min had begged the older man to teach her some of his tricks, but Ace refused, stating that it was like a magician revealing his secrets.

Feng Min had then said that was a load of shit and insulted Ace’s choice in clothes. The irony of being unable to pick their clothes at this point was not lost on either of them.

Despite the fact that no one had ever won against the gambler, people always came back to try again. If anything those card games with Ace were the perfect distraction to the prison they were all stuck in. This was why Quentin had been encouraged to try his first game out with the other man, Jake noting that Meg took special pleasure in egging him on. The ginger was still sore about losing the hefty sum of a flashlight and a toolbox to him the first time they played together, and ever since made sure to point anyone she could in his direction to share in her misery.

Quentin was, as most everyone had expected, terrible at cards. His excuse was that he had never played any of the chosen games before, but as Feng Min had remarked, most likely he was just bad. No one ever really tried to play against the gambler after he swept the rug out from under another person, but Jake found himself sitting on the log where Quentin had just been.

Ace, who had been reshuffling his deck with a satisfied air about him, raised an incredulous eyebrow at him while Jake made himself comfortable. He ignored the curious glances that the others were throwing him while they went back to their own tasks or gave the new guy a pat on the back. Ace cleared his throat and gave a small disbelieving chuckle, resigned to acknowledging the situation at hand.

“You’re not serious.” 

“I’m always serious.” Jake deadpanned, allowing himself to bask in the more genuine snort of laughter that the gambler gave at that.

“Alright, s’not my junk I’m losing. Blackjack?”

Jake nodded and relaxed while the other man cut the deck one more time before deciding he was satisfied with the particular way the cards were shuffled, and then began passing out a hand for either of them. The point to this game wasn’t to win, the point of this game was to test a theory that he had. It was something Jake had been noticing more during the last few...days. Or weeks. Or however time passed here.

So Jake allowed the first few hands to pass without so much as a single hint of his ulterior motive showing. Every single round Ace had won, and after every single round Jake told him to deal another. The look of amusement slowly melting into utter confusion was delicious and made the endeavor all the more worthwhile. Eventually it got to the point where Meg actually ambled over and plopped down on the ground next to them, eyeballing the proceedings suspiciously.

When Meg thought hard she had a habit of scrunching up her face and looking like she was sucking a lemon. It was an unfortunate facial expression and one that Bill had once dryly commented made her look like she was taking a shit. True to form Meg’s face began to twist in the familiar shape, betraying how hard she was analyzing the scene before her.

“So, do you, like, _wanna_ lose?” She asked, carefully looking at Jake, “Is there something wrong? Do we need to stage an intervention?”

Jake snorted and gently shoved his boot into her thigh. He wasn’t comfortable with physical contact from most people, but for the three that had begun this nightmare with him, he was willing to sometimes make exceptions. 

“No.”

“Then why are you still playing?” Meg whined, shoving her sneaker into his calf with a bit more force.

“Maybe he just loves my sparkling personality and roguish good looks.” Ace winked at her, ignoring the eye roll he received in return.

Jake calmly set his cards down to reach over and nab Ace’s arm, jerking it towards him. The gambler made a garbled noise in surprise, protectively curling his hand towards his chest in such a way that it resembled a southern belle clutching her pearls. It was adorable, Jake decided, and then tossed his own cards aside carelessly so that he could run his fingers along the inside of Ace’s sleeve.

It wasn’t necessary in the least. Jake still took more time than he needed to feel the underside of Ace’s wrist, enjoying the way Ace’s sunglasses slid down the bridge of his nose enough to display his widening eyes. If he looked hard enough he could see the beginnings of a blush, though that could be a trick of the light from the campfire. Jake tightened his grip on Ace’s wrist slightly, eyes sharply observing the other man’s nervous swallow, adam’s apple bobbing.

“What the fuck are you doing that for?” Meg interrupted, looking as confused as Ace did, though much more expressive.

Jake smoothly retracted his hand without preamble to reveal a card held between his pointer and middle. It was, ironically, an ace. The gambler’s jaw dropped and then he was fumbling to try and take the card back while Meg processed the new information. Jake didn’t allow Ace to touch the card, grasping the man’s wrist again when he came close enough, and gripping it tightly. 

He allowed himself a minor smug smile and leaned towards the gambler to savor the moment. The card was held up before Ace’s eyes, deliberately twirled between Jake’s fingers.

“Your tells are too obvious.” Jake innocently stated and then released his hold on the other man, flicking the card towards his chest.

“Holy shit.” Meg breathed and then her delighted smile was a hundred megawatts and counting, “ _Holy shit_!! Claude, did you see that?!”

Meg jumped up, practically hollering at that point and drawing the attention of everyone gathered around the campfire. The more people looked over, the more Ace seemed to fumble with his carefree persona, practically wilting into his oversized and torn up suit jacket. This was not how things were meant to go. Ace was not supposed to show this side of himself to anyone but Jake. The moment was soured as soon as it had started and Jake found himself irritated by the amount of eyes watching Ace try to valiantly make up an excuse.

No words came fast enough and so Jake intervened, a dark look passing over his face.

“Shows over.” He grunted and took it upon himself to begin the process of gathering up all the cards. 

Unsurprisingly it was Dwight who caught on the quickest to Jake’s mood fluctuation and stammered out some sort of cover for the other man’s odd behavior. He appreciated it, he really did. But at the same time he also wanted to snap at Dwight for being so painfully obvious about it. 

It didn’t take long to finish up the deck and place it neatly down between the two of them. Ace had recovered some of his bravado and managed to look him in the eyes again, sunglasses back in place. 

“What gave it away?” The gambler asked, cautiously reaching out to snag his deck. 

“A magician doesn’t reveal his secrets.” Jake shot him a sly smirk.

***

It was only a matter of time before one of the other survivors caught on enough to draw their own conclusions. Jake hadn’t thought that anyone would confront him about it, but then again, he had difficulty predicting what Nea would do in any given situation.

It began with Nea joining him on a walk, something that was unusual in and of itself. He hadn’t invited her to traipse the endless woods with him, but the moment he left the campfire she was on his heels. That should have been warning enough, but Jake had believed foolishly that it was only temporary and that she would grow bored soon enough.

He was wrong.

“So, what’s with Ace n’ you?” She drawled not even two minutes into meandering around the dark forest.

Jake was caught off guard enough to actually verbally respond with, “What?”

“I mean, you said it wasn’t a bad thing, but you do stare at him a lot.” Nea continued airily, like she was talking about the weather, “So I figure maybe you’re actually eye fucking him and suddenly everything starts making sense.”

All movement is halted in favor of feeling anger well up inside him. It’s hypocritical, but Jake has never liked other people watching him without him noticing. It always gave them more about him than he’d care to be shared. The expression on his face must have been thunderous because Nea’s calm facade wore thin.

“ _Woah_! Woah, chill dude.” She hastily raises her hands placatingly, “I didn’t tell anyone, I was just looking for confirmation. Like, if you two are a thing good for you cause’ we could all use something other than dying on repeat.”

Words didn’t mean much to Jake. Anyone could lie and go back on their promises, much like his family had a habit of doing. His expression didn’t so much as ease in the slightest and he kept his gaze steadily trained on the girl. Nea’s attitude crumbled further as she valiantly fought to reconcile the situation she had created.

“Okay, look, maybe I was trying to find out cause’ like...well, if you weren’t with him maybe we could help each other out?”

Jake didn’t like the sound of that.

“I’m don’t have the hots for him or anything,” She made a disgusted face, “I actually like...fuck man, I’m only telling you cause’ I think you might knife me or something for starting this conversation, okay? I kinda...like Laurie.”

The last two words were said so quickly that they were practically one, and it took Jake a second to decipher what she said. It made sense given how much Nea often took her side on things and went out of her way to look out for the girl during trials. Nea was watching him warily, waiting for him to say one wrong thing. 

It would be in poor taste to continue being petty after the girl had just confided him. Jake sighed and allowed the tension to seep from his muscles and then glanced down at her quizzically. 

“I don’t know what you’re expecting me to do.” He dryly stated.

Nea lit up, all previous worry gone in a second, “I’m so glad you asked, _partner_.”

She very pointedly ignored Jake’s scowl at the term of endearment and whirled around to begin pacing as though she was laying out an extraordinary plan.

“So, with the way you’re acting I’m assuming you haven’t fucked Ace yet, which implies that you’re trying to. I propose,” Nea turned on heel to grin at him slyly, “that we wingman for each other. Think about it, I talk to Ace about how cool you are and how you’ve saved my life so many times and you maybe put in a good word for me with Laurie.”

“Are you seriously trying to talk me into helping you get laid when we’re in a realm that kills us over and over?”

“Are you seriously saying you don’t want to bend Ace over the nearest available surface? Cause’ man if you don’t, I gotta tell you, you’re sending some mixed signals.”

Jake finally moved and it was to place a hand over Nea’s mouth, “Jesus Christ, stop using the words Ace and fuck in the same sentence.”

Nea’s eyes crinkled merrily and then Jake jerked his hand away with a sound of dismay, wiping his palm on his jacket.

“Did you just lick me?” He asked in disbelief.

“Are you gonna help a girl out?”

There was no way he was considering this. It was ludicrous to even think about involving another person in his affairs, especially ones that involved the gambler. What if the others found out? What if Nea lied and she actually was into Ace? 

Jake looked at Nea’s hopeful expression and felt his resolve crumble and he resigned himself to his fate.

“Yeah, fine.” He grumbled.

“Then I maybe admit to licking your hand for the greater good.”

***

When the duo arrived back at the campfire, it was to chaos. The number of people still hadn’t thinned which meant there were no trials going on, so the question of why there was so much activity was prominent in Jake’s mind. He hung back while Nea immediately strode forward, power walking straight to Laurie. 

Jake was content to simply observe up until he noticed what was in the center of the storm. It looked as though Dwight had failed to prevent an altercation given that he was on the ground with his glasses missing. Of all people Quentin and David were trying to get at each other, Quentin with a bleeding nose staining his shirt and David with an enraged expression on his face. The two were being held back by various other survivors, though held back was a bit too forgiving since they were still managing to stay fairly close together. In between them was Ace who looked seconds away from being squashed by the younger men in their haste to try and get close enough to swing.

It didn’t matter what the two were angry about, what mattered was that Jake was already on edge from his conversation with Nea and that he didn’t like the idea of someone’s fist accidentally impacting Ace’s face. He didn’t hesitate to place his hand to his lips and whistle piercingly into the night sky, interrupting the general ruckus loudly enough to make everyone wince and cover their ears. 

There were a few blessed seconds where all the survivors needed to collect their senses and then David King regained his temper, nearly managing to lunge forward at Quentin if not for Bill gripping one of shoulders tightly. Jake gave a meaningful stare to Dwight only to remember that the other man couldn’t see it due to his missing spectacles, and so cleared his throat instead to spur the leader into action. Dwight flinched and fumbled around, eventually giving up on his search for his glasses to nervously stand and give Ace the opportunity to get out from his dangerous position.

“What the fuck happened here?” Nea demanded while Dwight was trying to formulate a sentence.

“Uh, well,” Dwight looked in her general direction, “just a disagreement. Nothing bad! So let’s all just calm down and—“

“ _Calm down_?!” David spat, “Don’t tell me to calm down you pansy little fu—“

“ _Do you ever shut up_?” Quentin spat, interrupting him. It was the most energy Jake had witnessed out of him and was strange to watch.

David rounded on their smaller male, smoke practically pouring out of his ears. Anything soft spoken about the other was evidently missing in wake of having to deal with King as Quentin neither backed down nor averted his gaze. If anything he tried to draw himself up even more to try and match height with David, though it wasn’t possible.

“You don’t know when t’ stop, do you?” David rumbled warningly.

Dwight continued to try and break the two up, but they seemed dead set on further blows. It was Meg who had an arm looped around Quentin’s chest, making sure that he didn’t get in range of David’s fists. From the looks of it she had no trouble in keeping him in place, though Quentin was probably less of an issue than King.

“Maybe if you stopped being such an _asshole_ to everyone—“

“What did you say t’me—“

Jake whistled again, sending everyone reeling once more. This time when ears stopped ringing it was Claudette who stepped up, placing Dwights glasses in his hands and looking between the men critically.

“I expected better from the both of you.” Was all she said to make the fight begin to deflate out of them.

Quentin had the good graces to look mildly ashamed for his behavior while David simply jerked out of Bill’s hold to storm away. Jake personally didn’t care to find out why the two had been at each other’s throats, more concentrated on making his way over to Ace, who was anxiously adjusting his jacket over and over.

The gambler looked up when Jake stopped before him, looking weary from whatever had happened. There were no signs of bumps or bruises which meant Jake didn’t have to lose his temper on top of everything, and so he allowed himself to crouch down and ease the angle Ace had to inflict on his neck. 

“You okay?” He murmured, quiet enough to keep the conversation between them.

Ace gave him a wry smile and paused picking at his clothes, “You’re the knight in shining armor type, huh?”

“Does that make you the damsel in distress?” Jake was secretly amused by the thought and calmed further from the older man’s mostly relaxed attitude.

“As much as I love myself, _no one_ wants to see these legs in a dress.” Ace chuckled.

Ace in a dress was indeed an odd thought. Ace in a skirt though, was a more pleasant one to harbor. Jake granted the other man a half smile and reached out to adjust his jacket’s collar, the action more from childhood habit than anything. The gambler straightened instinctively but didn’t push his hand away, merely watching him curiously.

“Maybe you should stop getting yourself in trouble.” Jake smoothed his hand over his work before placing it back on his own thigh.

“Apparently I have nothing to worry about with you around.” 

Ace didn’t realize how right he was.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Once again I have no idea what I’m doing, but we must forge onward to ensure Ace gets fucked. My curse is never feeling like there’s enough buildup. :^(
> 
> Sorry in advance for however long the next chapter takes. I’m currently working 11 hr days + weekends so it’s difficult to write when I get home.


	5. Chapter 5

There was one major problem in helping Nea with her attempts to woo Laurie: the girl was still mad at Jake for the David debacle. The Strodes both seemed capable of harboring resentment for as long as it took, if their never ending grudge match was any indication. With that sort of foundation to deal with, Jake was doubtful that he could really be of any usefulness. 

And then the Entity gifted the survivors booze.

From time to time they'd come back from a trial, or wake from restless sleep, and there would be chests like the ones they would find in the other realms to the side of the campfire. Mostly they were minor changes in clothes so that they didn't have to continue to wear the same blood crusted shirts night after night, but on occasion they were permitted more unique items. Never had the Entity brought them any sort of food or liquid before and the survivors had gleaned fairly quickly that appetites didn't exist in purgatory. 

_Why_ the ambivalent creature had given them alcohol was unclear, but Jake could tell that for almost all of the others it didn't really matter. As soon as they realized there was an honest to goodness selection of varying types of liquor, the mood had lifted immensely. 

It didn't take long for hands to nab their choices and drink directly from bottles since there were no options for cups. No one cared about sharing and drinking after one another, they'd all bled on each other enough to make such worries trivial.

Claudette had, at first, been reluctant to allow Laurie and Quentin, questioning their ages with suspicion. They both claimed to be 21 and it seemed as though the botanist wasn't going to be convinced. But Meg had changed her mind with a cheeky smile and a flippant remark of, “What are they gonna do, _die_?”

It was morbid, but she had a point.

Impressively, they both proved Claudette wrong when they threw back liquor like it was natural. Apparently they had partaken in quite a bit back in the real world. The stars in Nea’s eyes as she watched Laurie take a swing of vodka straight from the bottle was embarrassing to witness, but Jake had technically promised her that he would help her out and so he didn’t immediately abandon her.

He found himself sitting on one of the logs and drinking a simple beer, content to not drown himself in too much hard liquor so soon. Unlike apparently Feng Min and David, who were both enthusiastically engaging each other in their second drinking contest with Ace as the judge. It was enjoyable, at least, to steal occasional glances at the gambler and watch a rosy tint slowly but steadily rise to his cheeks. 

It was odd. With all the stories Ace had regaled them with, Jake had expected the older man to wholeheartedly throw himself into drinking. Instead he had only sipped at whiskey and paced himself. The seasoned card shark nursing his alcohol was a good look for him, Jake decided. It gave the other man a more put together appearance which was definitely a plus as it meant that tearing it apart would be so much sweeter in the end.

Jake tried to take another swig of beer only to realize that he had finished the drink while he had been Ace-watching. He startled slightly when he felt the cool touch of something to the back of his neck, turning his head to see Nea smirking down at him.

“Here.” She indicated the new beer in her hand, “You look like you could use it.”

As soon as Jake took it, she sat down with a heavy sigh next to him, her own drink halfway empty. The didn’t talk at first, both content with people watching and relaxing in the rare cheerful atmosphere of the campfire.

“Sure hope the Entity doesn’t allow hangovers.” Nea commented, “Cause’ there’s no way anyone is sobering up tonight.”

Jake could already imagine how much whining was going to occur the following morning if they actually were going to suffer from their choices. He was definitely making sure to sleep a good distance away tonight, if only to avoid having to deal with any of the others.

“Looking at Ace’s ass?” Nea waggled her eyebrows.

“Laurie not interested?” Jake calmly shot back and cracked open the top to his drink.

Nea visibly deflated, morosely staring down at the ground. She didn’t respond immediately which was answer enough, but Jake waited for the girl to speak her mind. He was fine with continuing to watch over the trio and to pretend he wasn’t mentally cataloguing Ace’s every move. 

“She’s just...I dunno, man. I think she’s too good for me.” Nea glumly traced random patterns in the dirt.

Ah. So she was busy being a depressed drunk right now, that made sense.

“And, like, did you see her with the vodka? And the— _the mouth_?!”

“The mouth?”

“She kept licking her lips.” Nea looked miserable, slumped on the log and cradling her drink, “It was horrible and hot as fuck, but _awful_.”

Jake didn’t want to hear that. He grimaced into his beer while he debated what the best course of action would be. On the one hand he could allow Nea to drink herself into an early grave, but on the other he could toss her Laurie’s way so that she wasn’t his problem anymore. The latter option sounded much better, and Laurie’s dislike of him didn’t feel as impossible as it had two beers ago.

“This is sad.” He announced with no preamble, deadpan in his tone, “You’re going to talk to her.”

Nea jerked like she had been electrocuted and then scooted away. Like that would ever stop him. Jake stood and grabbed her by the arm, ignoring all incoherent protests that she was garbling in his direction. He had steady hands unlike the girl and so it was no trouble at all to force her in the direction of Laurie’s blond hair. 

The closer they got to the other girl, the more frantic Nea’s attempts to get away became. By the time Jake had halted in front of her, Nea had resorted to trying to claw his arm off with her free hand. She froze under the sudden scrutiny of her crush and then hastily tried to rearrange herself to not look like a deranged raccoon. Laurie eyed Jake with wary distrust but it didn’t escape his attention that her gaze softened when she glanced at Nea.

“You guys okay?” Laurie cautiously asked.

Nea floundered, her face heating up impressively.

“Nea was telling me,” Jake tried not to sound as exasperated as he felt, “about how impressive you’ve been in trials lately.”

It was a good thing that all the survivors had consumed enough alcohol to make the lack of tact a non-issue, because Jake wasn’t even remotely trying to be subtle. Whatever Laurie had been expecting it definitely wasn’t the sudden compliment, and she gawked at Nea who failed to meet her gaze back.

“Oh, I, um.” Laurie stuttered but smiled shyly at the other girl, “Really?”

Jake roughly elbowed Nea and jolted her into action. If he had to suffer through another five minutes of this he was likely to grab both of their drinks and chug them. Nea finally looked at the other girl, still at a loss for words. She nodded awkwardly and Laurie’s smile widened into something far too genuine that made Jake decide it was time to leave them be. 

“I’ll just be over there.” He gestured vaguely in a direction and was unsurprised that all he received in return was a weak nod.

It felt too depressing to go back to sitting by his lonesome after all that and so he determined, instead, where tolerable company was located. Normally he would position himself near Claudette, but the way she and Meg were easing their way into sitting close enough to have their thighs touch made him think better of it. No, with the way the night was progressing it seemed as though the others had remembered that they possessed genitalia and sex drives. 

At least not all of them were interested in making moves, if Feng Min’s excited whoop of victory as she beat David for the third time in a row rang out. Jake meandered over, scooping another drink in the process without even looking at it. David was laying on the ground, groaning and looking like he needed to vomit. At some point the man had pulled his shirt off and also managed to throw it high into the tree branches above. Feng Min had also apparently decided to contribute in dressing the tree, as her jacket was somehow dangling from even higher.

Jake peered down at David disinterestedly and stepped over him to maneuver himself next to Ace. He held out the new drink he’d picked up to the gambler, distantly pleased that it happened to be another bottle of whiskey. The other man accepted the offering graciously, though his own was still half full, and set it to the side with an expectant look.

Good. It was good that the gambler was getting used to Jake’s presence enough that he wanted Jake to sit with him and talk. The dirt wasn’t as comfortable as one of the logs, but Jake obliged Ace’s wishes and set himself down next to the other. By now the rosy tint on Ace’s face had reddened enough for even the others to notice it, no doubt, and he seemed oblivious to the fact that his glasses were precariously perched far enough down his nose that they could be knocked off with a single head movement. 

His eyes, usually more masked and guarded, were an open book tonight as the alcohol set in. It made him feel more animated and inviting in a way that Jake seldom saw unless he was off balance, and he savored it. Admittedly, he was also drinking in the sight of Ace’s shirt which had two more buttons undone on it than normal and left his collarbones on display in a way that made him want to bite. There was chest hair, though not as much as Jake had been expecting, and it was salt and pepper just like the man’s goatee and head.

It made Jake wonder about the trail of hair that would lead down past the man’s pants, his cock nestled within. That was probably not the thing to be thinking about as Ace’s lips moved and no sound registered in Jake’s brain. He cleared his throat, blinking once and moving closer to the gambler.

“What?”

“I said,” Ace sounded amused, “are you enjoying the evening?”

Jake opened his mouth and then paused, looking down at his beer speculatively, and shrugged, “Could be worse.”

The older man chuckled and leaned his shoulder into Jake’s to shove it, but remained in place after. He took a moment to catch his breath and then cocked his head so he could look up at Jake from under the brim of his hat.

“Do you ever relax, my man?” 

The point of contact between them was warm and inviting, lulling his guard down enough to look down at the other man and maintain eye contact. His smile, small but real, was enough to make Ace’s eyes widen slightly.

“Only with certain people.”

“A-ah. I see.” Ace averted his gaze, his own grin taking on a nervous tinge to it while he fiddled with the neck of his drink. More than likely the man wanted to fidget with his clothes given that everyone was steadily growing overheated, but he resisted. 

Jake set his beer aside, for it was empty once again, and settled back to wait for the other to continue the conversation. He was content with the fact that the older man had his weight resting on him and that it felt right.

“I must be a lucky guy then, huh?”

“Do you feel lucky to spend time with me?” Jake bluntly asked, his stomach tingling pleasantly at the way Ace’s face, neck, and chest heated up brightly for a few seconds. 

“It’s just, I mean, you aren’t this touchy with the others. Mostly.” Ace recovered valiantly.

Jake hummed but didn’t verbally answer. It would be better for the other man to draw his own conclusions and to allow his imagination to run wild, as he had much of it. Perhaps Jake would become a common visitor in his dreams. 

Perhaps.

***

Jake opened his eyes to the Coldwind Farm, nose assaulted by the ever prevailing stench of cow manure despite there being no real animals in the entity's realm. Every single place the survivors were transported to never felt quite right. There were always things off about their prisons and Jake had always assumed it was because the areas were how the entity perceived their dimensions. This lead to things like the omnipresent cow stink or houses that were void of any furniture save for random bits that didn't make sense. 

He liked this domain nonetheless most times he was brought here, as the tall stalks of corn often provided the cover necessary to duck a killer's line of sight and give him breathing room. It was a welcome change in pace in comparison to being forced to hide behind stacks of ruined cars or barrels of fire. So it was with this meager sliver of confidence that he began to slink quietly into the cornfield, senses on high alert as the plants swished and crunched around him.

The last thing he remembered the night prior was sitting with Ace and conversing about inane and trivial things, which meant he must have fallen asleep at some point. While the idea was mortifying on some level, the way his shoulder was stiff and sore let him in on the fact that the other man must have fallen asleep as well, and on him no less, which made the realization sting less. Jake wondered if Ace had woken up when he was whisked away and if it had involved him suddenly smashing to the ground when his cushion ceased to be able to prop him up. He also wondered if anyone else had seen. He hoped not.

This wasn’t the time to be thinking about such things.

As if on queue he heard a distant scream of pain and the unsettling noise of a bear trap snapping shut. 

If there was one enemy he disliked being pit against in this domain specifically, it was the hulking giant that was the Trapper. There could not be a worse possible outcome to make escape inordinately difficult, even when he saw the beast of a man coming from a mile away. It was difficult to predict where he'd place his traps and, in many ways, the feeling of the jagged metal teeth suddenly snapping down on his leg was worse than the jarring motion of being impaled on a hook. At least when he got off hooks he was able to run. The few times he'd managed to pry traps open to escape he'd only managed a few steps before being forced to crawl, the pain too overwhelming. 

Jake considered his options carefully as he remained squatted in the field, debating whether or not it would be worth it to investigate who was trapped to try and help them. On the one hand it would be the right thing to do, on the other there was no guarantee that he'd actually be able to help before the Trapper found them.

His decision was made for him when there was a rustling behind him and he turned to lock eyes with Feng Min. 

Sweat was already visibly covering the girl's face in an oily sheen and dampening the pits of her shirt to a darker stain. She wiped a hand across the bridge of her nose and then gestured for him to follow, leading him away from the direction of the bear trap. There was a generator nearby but they both ignored it and headed towards safer grounds. 

“It was Dwight.” Feng murmured while they pushed through the plants.

She didn't have to say more. Jake's stomach sank a little at the realization; the Trapper's favorite victim was their fearful leader. The chances of getting Dwight out alive were slim to none as they both knew the killer would be keeping a close eye. The best they could do for now would be to finish all the generators and get the gates open.

Work on the generator was mostly silent, which Jake appreciated. Feng Min wasn’t one for small talk when it wasn’t necessary, a characteristic that they both shared. That was why he was surprised when the girl suddenly paused in her work to lean around the side of the machine to look at him judgingly. 

Jake shot her a disgruntled and annoyed glance since she was wasting valuable time. “What?”

“Wingmanning for Nea, huh?”

Well, this certainly wasn’t what he had been expecting the other to say and certainly wasn’t something he particularly cared about. When Jake didn’t immediately respond she huffed in amusement, though picked her ministrations back up, expertly multitasking. 

“Didn't think that you did stuff like that.”

Jake rolled his eyes even though he knew that the other survivor was watching him. She was trying to bait him into spilling secrets or something of that nature, because if there was one thing Feng Min liked to do with other people, it was gossip. Why she felt as though now was a good time to do so was a mystery that Jake didn't feel like solving. The Trapper had definitely summoned one of those awful totems to place a curse on the generators because progress was slow going and often resulted in the machine sparking angrily.

When Feng continued to shoot pointed glances his way he begrudgingly sighed out, “It's none of your business.”

Feng lept on the admission like a feral animal, a grin splitting on her face. She cocked an eyebrow at him and paused, again, to invade his personal space.

“I'm just saying, I don't think you'd usually do something like that out of the goodness of your heart. So what deal did Nea strike with you?”

God, being stuck for what could be eternity with a small group of bored adults resulted in the nosiest friends he'd ever had to suffer through. His mouth thinned to a displeased line but before he could rebuff her advances, David quietly stepped out from the cornfield, catching sight of them and breaking into a healthy jog to join them. He still didn’t have a shirt on which meant that he must have been yanked into this dimension sans the proper clothing, nor even been allowed to have it brought with him. 

He squatted down between them without preamble, which was odd given that he usually had a dozen crude things to say. No such comments came now though and he jammed his arms into the generator with more force than necessary to help. There was a scowl in his face, deeper than Jake had come to expect from him during trials. Feng Min didn't appear surprised by his disposition which was a relief only because it meant she could handle whatever this was. 

The generator sparked so soon after David started that he may as well not helped at all, and the brawler jerked his hands out with an irritated hiss and a curse under his breath. It was probably a good idea for Jake to leave them and go work on another generator by himself, if only to have an excuse to cut off any further interactions, but Feng spoke up before he could move.

“Wow, _someone's_ moody. Still mad about last night?”

David visibly froze, though the clench of his muscles spoke of anger rather than anxiety. Was he upset about losing all those drinking contests? Jake honestly wouldn't be surprised if that was the case.

“ _Fuck off_.” The other man snarled and shoved his arms back into the machine.

Feng made a thoughtful noise, “Y'know if you two keep this up you might become honorary killers with how useful you'll be during trials.”

A fist was slammed onto the top of the generator, hard enough to rattle the metal shell and loud enough to make Jake grab David's arm in an iron grasp. The brawler aggressively turned towards him, though his limb wasn't able to free itself from his grip.

“What? You wanna fuckin’ have a go too?!” He was clearly going to explode from trying not to yell, face ruddy and dampening with sweat. 

“Lower your voice unless you want to be hooked.” Jake drawled, eyes cool and unforgiving.

“Well according to Min, maybe I do!” He retorted and jerked his arm, still unable to wiggle lose.

Jake reeled him in slowly and pointedly, drawing him closer to speak quietly but pointedly so that maybe this idiot could get his words through his thick skull.

“Let me rephrase. _Shut the fuck up_ or we're leaving you for the killer.”

This was enough to make David pause his temper tantrum and for a moment he stared at Jake slack jawed, as though he couldn't believe what was just said to him. Jake let go, assuming that his message was heard loud and clear, and turned his attention back to the task at hand. He was hoping that would be the end of it and that ignoring the two would encourage them to do the same, but luck really wasn't on his side.

“Just don't see where he gets off talking like that.” David mumbled petulantly at the ground.

“Jesus Christ you two are impossible.” Feng Min sniffed in a manner that was haughty and conveyed her general disappointment. 

Jake had a feeling that she wasn't referring to he and David, and so didn't take offense from the statement. The generator whirred to life finally, lights flickering on and drawing the attention of anyone in the area. He stood, knees slightly sore from his prolonged position, and gazed appraisingly at the tall corn stalks before them.

“I feel like fightin’ somethin’.” David stated, cracking his knuckles.

The feeling, at this point, was mutual.

Feng Min joined them with her hands on her hips, looking resigned to how the trial was going to play out. Jake, too, knew that Dwight was going to be extremely unhappy that they all died trying to save him. They knew better than that.

Well, sometimes you had to take whatever control you could get.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So yeah. This chapter is...not great but I’m still working those 10-11 hr days plus weekends until about next Wednesday or so. Hopefully this means I’ll have more time to write soon! I don’t foresee this story lasting too much longer...
> 
> On a random note I’ve been playing this game for about three months now and I’ve become a rank 5 p2 Quentin main and I hate my life. Queue times are horrrriiibbbllleee.


	6. Chapter 6

They all died, including Dwight.

By the time the four of them had stumbled out of the dark clutches of the woods, each shaking like a newborn, much time must have passed. No one ever had any sort of concept about how long trials took, and the added layer of rebirth only mixed up any ideas about time passage even more. The only people sitting around the campfire were Claudette and Bill, and the look of stark relief on Claudette’s face was enough to cast suspicion on something being wrong.

It was Dwight who spoke up first, exhausted from the trauma of being hunted so mercilessly and obsessively, and face already pinched in the tell tale sign that he was upset with his companions for doing the one thing he told them not to. The bespectacled man cleared his throat hoarsely and then adjusted his glasses.

“Claudette? What’s wrong?” The question was stated as gently as possible. If there was one thing the nervous leader had always been good at, it was helping Claudette work through her own debilitating shyness and anxiety.

The botanist was wringing her hands worriedly and looking between them like she hadn’t expected them to come back. How _long_ exactly had they been gone this time? Bill stood up behind the woman and quietly made his way over to the small group with a solemn expression on his face, his usual cigarette missing.

Jake could tell that Claudette was having one her moments—the kind where words were too hard to say and needed to be written, but without a means of doing so she was at a loss on how to vocalize the fear written all over her face. 

“What’s going on?” Feng Min gave a little disbelieving laugh, “You guys are acting like someone actually died.”

Her laughter trailed off when Claudette flinched and immediately Jake felt...something seize his heart. He didn’t want to call it fear, didn’t want to give such a debilitating emotion power so that it could control him, but at that moment he couldn’t deny that it was. All of a sudden he was stuck with the terrifying thought that maybe, just maybe, Ace was the one who had died permanently. 

There was sweat gathering in his palms, between his fingers clenched into fists. 

“No one’s dead.” Bill interjected, “Least’, not out of the norm so far as we can tell. All of you just...you’ve been gone an awful long time. Longer than usual.”

That eased some of the tension gathering between the group, though Feng Min piped up again, “We’re missing one, right…?”

“Laurie. She’s takin’ a walk right now.” Bill nodded his head and motioned for all of them to sit down and process the information. “Think she doesn’t like sitting around for too long.”

For once Jake could relate to the absent woman. He forced himself to relax his stance enough to not draw any unnecessary attention to himself and let Dwight take over the process of comforting Claudette. If what Bill was implying was true, Jake didn’t blame her for seizing up. As much as it pained him to envision himself as being dependent on anyone else, the thought of abruptly being without the other three original survivors at the campfire for so long was...unpleasant.

The heat provided by the flames of the campfire always fluctuated in temperature, though the size of it always remained the same. It was as though the Entity could never quite get the concept of temperature quite right and so it was always changing its idea of warmth. Currently the fire was so hot that sitting on logs directly beside the flames somewhat hurt over the course of several minutes, and so the group of survivors found themselves perching in various odd ways further out. 

Jake settled into the crook of a low hanging branch on his usual tree. “ _His_ ” tree. As though he owned anything here. 

The mood around their contained space was sour at best and it didn’t take long for David to grow sick of impatiently picking at his hand wraps, apparently not even bothering to try locating his still missing shirt. The brawler stood with an angry huff and began to pace, causing Claudette and Dwight to eye him warily.

“It’s gotta be fuckin’ with us, right?” He finally demanded, whirling around to look between them with wild eyes.

“Who?” Feng Min asked, her knees drawn up to her chest. Normally she’d be playing cards with Ace by now. Jake quickly averted that line of thinking, feeling faintly nauseous.

“You know _who_!” David snarled back, “The Entity or whatever th’ fuck you people call it!”

“Y’know the point of not knowing about something is that we don’t have the answers, right?” Feng snipped back, her own ill temper making itself known as well.

David bristled like he was going to try and start something, but Bill interjected with the grace of a weary veteran who had no time for childish arguments.

“Shut up. Fighting isn’t gonna help.”

The two sullenly looked away from each other, all apparent comradery that had developed the night before dissolved in an instant. Sometimes all it took to realize how paper-thin the sanity people were holding onto, the false hope and reason to act civilized, was one incident. Jake was reminded of the one time his father had moved to strike him, of the one C he had brought home on a report card that caused the terrible domino effect where he decided to leave.

One moment was all it took.

***

A day passed. Or Jake thought it was a day.

There was still no sign of the remaining missing four and even he’d found himself anxiously fidgeting around the campfire. Meg, Nea, Quentin, and...Ace. 

It was so quiet save for the crackling of the flames and the others attempting to busy themselves. 

David had decided now was as good a time as any to test out Feng Min’s ability to weather hits, and the two had been on and off throwing hands with each other, though luckily with little animosity remaining between them. Claudette had packed and repacked the med kits, methodically sorting each box and counting everything inside three, four, five times, Dwight joining her in the task whenever his hands stopped shaking. Laurie and Bill merely sat quietly together, the moments only broken by Laurie occasionally standing and briskly walking away.

Jake wondered if Nea had confessed her feeling to the other woman. Did it matter? Nea was still missing either way.

He himself had taken to wood carving. They didn’t have much in the way of knives in their slice of the forest, but they’d all saved up whatever sharp objects they could find. Laurie had taught them that the killers could actually be injured, even briefly, and every spare hand had collected anything weapon-like since. He was using a crude piece of metal that had to be from one of the many rusty and broken down vehicles they ran into in various realms, hands covered in the thick gloves sometimes found to aid with generator repair. 

Wood carving was something he had used to do back in his real home, it was a hobby that soothed his need to mark something, to show the world that he existed and had left a trace of his presence on the world. The motions were second nature to him and so he soon found himself whittling away simple geometric objects and then slightly more complicated shapes that vaguely looked like items around the camp.

No one tried to invade his personal space, not even Claudette. It was clear that he needed room to work through whatever was going on in his head and that he wasn’t interested in sharing those thoughts with anyone. Hell, a part of him was impressed that even David got the message and didn’t try to interrupt his own way of coping. Perhaps the other man was more mature than he’d assumed.

Another day passed. Maybe.

No one had been called into another trial. There was nothing to do. There was no one to alleviate the growing despair among those left. Jake had practically created his own shop in possibly 48 hours, hands constantly moving with the need to take his building anger out somehow. He definitely had splinters. It didn’t matter, it’s not like they ever grew genuinely tired or needed time to eat and drink.

A medkit was placed next to his carvings during a small, fitful nap he’d unexpectedly taken at some point. Jake knew it was Claudette who left it, but she didn’t say anything and studiously avoided his questioning gaze when he’d found it. It made something inside him ache that the woman cared this much about him that she’d learned how to handle his mood swings and had found a way to help him anyways. So Jake had mended his bloody fingers even though he didn’t really want to and didn’t really care.

And then, finally, on what must have been bordering the three day mark, Nea staggered into camp looking as though she didn’t know who she was. She was so pale and fragile looking in that moment, movements awkward and unsure. No one had moved at first, so shocked by her sudden appearance that they were momentarily stunned into inaction, and then Laurie let out a noise that sounded suspiciously like a sob and she was hurling herself across the gap of distance between them and pulling the other woman into her arms.

Jake froze halfway into standing up, leaning against his tree and surveying the scene cautiously. He was relieved, he realized. He was relieved that Nea was alive, that... _his friend_ was alive.

Laurie was trying to talk as she embraced Nea but her words were thickened by her tears and were thus incomprehensible. Nea looked taken aback by the emotional outburst but her hands tightened around the blonde girl all the same. Then Meg was wandering out of the tree line, dazed but hauling Quentin, one of his arms slung over her shoulder.

Her signature braids were missing, replaced by hair that had been chopped shoulder length at some point. She was covered in blood but looked determined to make sure that Quentin was led to safety. Quentin’s eyes were glazed over, struggling to focus on the sight in front of him, and his steps were uncertain. 

Jake heard Claudette inhale sharply, wetly, a telltale sign of her holding back tears. Their botanist who had gone practically nonverbal over the last however many days, trembled as she made her way towards Meg. 

Quentin was set down gently on a log as Meg finally looked back at Claudette, as the shorter woman reached out her hands to touch the red head’s face uncertainly. Meg patiently allowed her to run her fingers over her cheekbones and brow, mapping the planes of her face and grounding the botanist to the fact that yes, she was back, and yes, this was real.

“I—I thought you…” Claudette choked out, the shaking starting up again in full force. Meg wrapped her hands around the other woman’s and closed her eyes, leaning in to press their brows together. She didn’t need to say anything more.

Jake looked away, feeling both intrusive and anxious. There was one person still missing. What if he didn’t come back? What if Claudette’s fears had been correct and someone really had died?

He couldn’t take it. He couldn’t keep carving nonsensical objects without knowing what had happened and if Claudettes—if _his_ fears were right. 

“Is—” He found himself starting to say, struggling to find the words when Meg turned her attention from the other woman to him, “Are you all...okay?”

There was a moment where Meg look confused as to what he was asking, where her face began to scrunch in the signature grimace that came with her thinking hard, and then it smoothed to understanding. Her eyes darted from Quentin, to Nea, and then back to Jake. She delicately removed Claudette’s hands from her face, though kept them in her grasp, and nodded tightly.

“It was...bad.” Meg’s smile didn’t reach her eyes, “I—the hag. She was different.”

Jake’s stomach sank. The hag. The hag and her little drawn symbols and her ability to teleport wherever she pleased with one misstep from a survivor. Meg swallowed harshly and took a moment to gather herself, and so it was Quentin who finished the explanation.

“She killed us.” His voice was distant, like his mind couldn’t quite ground itself in his body, “She ate us.”

Time slowed around the campfire as the others took this information in with varying levels of horrified expressions. Both Meg and Nea look grim at the admittance, but Nea stepped up to add in as well.

“It was like when the killers sometimes do it themselves. But she— _fuck_ —she ripped us open.” Nea laughed a little manically, “And ate our organs like they were candy. Can you believe it? A fucking _cannibal_?”

No, Jake found he couldn’t. But neither could he deny what the others had gone through.

“Guess she’s got good taste.” A final voice weakly joked from behind Jake, “Don’t know why she bothered with you three though.”

Jake’s heart skipped a beat. He steeled himself as he turned and then he understood in the moment why Laurie and Claudette had reacted so loudly. If he were anyone else he probably would have too.

And he was there, and he was alive. His clothes looked worse for wear and his glasses had an ugly crack down the right lense, but otherwise nothing was amiss. He had a crooked, uncertain half smile on his face, and he was holding his middle like he could still feel the phantom pains of being ripped into and torn apart.

“Hey.” Ace said, his gaze trained in Jake’s direction, “What’d we miss?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Soooo this chapter is shorter, but it didn’t feel right to try and continue on after the whole...long trials situation. Honestly I feel like it would be scarier the longer people don’t reappear at the campfire rather than the pressure of nonstop trials. 
> 
> ANYWAYS we’re almost there! Next chapter won’t be as heavy, I promise. I can only handle angst in small portions before I get sick of it. :^P
> 
> Hope ya’ll are doing well!


	7. Chapter 7

It took longer than anyone could have predicted for things to fall back to some sense of normality.

Another possible day passed before anyone else was called into a trial, and it left Jake contemplating if this was the Entity’s way of making sure they didn’t fall completely into despair. After all, there was no chase and no reason for the life and death situations if the survivors didn’t care.

Of the four who were whisked away, Jake felt his stomach give a small sympathetic pang when the mist surrounded Quentin once more, ignoring his moan of distress when he noticed. Perhaps the other man had done something wrong during a trial to incur the Entity’s wrath, but there was no way to know. At least he would have Bill, Laurie, and Claudette with him this time. They were good companions to rely on during especially difficult trials. 

No one mentioned the unsaid worry of whether or not the four would vanish for days on end again. It was too fresh to bring up, like a wound that had only recently been looked at. 

Jake had taken to avoiding the others. It felt a lot like when he’d first been dragged into this realm and kept his distance to prevent any sort of attachments. At the time it was important to him, given that there was so much death at any given moment, and he’d never known if he’d wake up at some point and be alone. Loss was easier to deal with when you didn’t actually care about a person.

His frequent walks into the woods didn’t go unnoticed by the others, and he shouldn’t have been surprised when it was Nea who finally intercepted him exiting the campfire. They hadn’t spoken since her return—not because Jake hated her, but rather because he was still dealing with the fact that he considered her an actual friend. Her face, however, was set into a determined grimace, and her grip on his arm was purposeful enough for him to halt his progress.

“ _So_ , not even gonna welcome me back?” She quietly asked, gaze unwavering. Against all odds Jake actually felt the urge to look away, though did not.

“Hi.” His tone was clipped and disinterested on purpose. Nea’s eyes narrowed further.

“Wow, don’t get _too_ excited.” She flatly replied, “So when are you gonna stop avoiding everyone? Cause’ from what I hear we were gone for a long fucking time and I thought you’d be all over Ace by now.”

Jake snarled softly and jerked his arm out of her grasp, hands clenching into fists. For her to speak so casually about the topic— _like he hadn’t been_ —like she knew what he— his hands were shaking ever so slightly from the anger rising to boil in him. Then, he took a deep breath and calmed his posture and expression, neutralizing the emotions. 

“I’m not avoiding anyone.” He blandly intoned, “I just like my personal space.”

“Unbelievable.” Nea scoffed, her head shaking in disbelief.

“What?”

“You’re such a fucking idiot. I thought you were smarter than this.”

The anger welled up again, threatening to erupt in some violent manner. He didn’t like that. He stepped forward, closing the gap between he and the woman.

“Excuse me?” He hissed.

“You heard me. Maybe you hadn’t noticed since you were too busy sulking, but there’s someone who could really benefit from sharing your fucking personal bubble right now.” Nea stepped forward as well and shoved her face even closer, “ _Especially_ since he never fucking talks to anyone except you about anything important.”

Jake reeled back like he’d been slapped. It was one thing to bottle the emotional turmoil inside of him where he was free to pretend he didn’t want anything to do with Ace past a good fuck. It was another for his lies to be shoved into his face by another person who was definitely more perceptive than he’d given her credit for. He realized he didn’t know what to say to Nea as she watched him. He wasn’t good with this whole...talking about feelings or opening up with anyone. It was something he’d never been good at and it’d only worsened during his solitary time in the woods.

A few more seconds passed by with no move from either of them, and then Nea was nodding like something had been settled in her brain and she turned away from them to call the gambler’s name.

_What the fuck_ —what the _fuck_ was she doing?!

“Yo Ace, Jake invited me to go on a walk but I’m way too fucking tired.” Nea waved a hand in the air flippantly while the older man climbed to his feet, “Mind taking my place so Park doesn’t get too lonely? You know how scared he gets of the dark.”

Ace snorted in amusement and joined them with only the slightest hint of confusion written on his face. Jake didn’t blame him, nothing about this situation was exactly the norm.

“You sure bout’ that? Cause’ it looked like you two were a second away from trading blows.” Ace commented, rocking back onto his heels with an easygoing enough grin in place.

Jake couldn’t help himself, “You were watching us?”

At this Ace’s idle movement ceased and his expression twitched from surprise and then to something more carefree. He shoved his hands into the pockets of his jacket and cleared his throat, readjusting his stance.

“Well, yeah. Was just making sure you two weren’t gonna fight is all.” 

Out of the corner of his eye, Jake could see Nea’s eyes rolling in exasperation, stuck as she was in this conversation. Fine, if she really thought Ace needed to take a walk or whatever with him, Jake would humor her just this one time. At least it would get her out of his hair.

“You gonna walk with me or not?” Jake asked.

Ace gnawed on his bottom lip—and God help him, it took all his willpower not to zero in on the action—before giving a small shrug and nod. Nea muttered something that sounded suspiciously like, “ _finally_ ”, and waved herself off without another word. Maybe Jake shouldn’t have been so harsh with her, she was obviously worried about Laurie. Maybe.

The route he normally traipsed through was a long one that involved a lot of weaving through the general brush. There was the occasional trail that popped up from time to time, though Jake had never followed one to see where they led. In truth, he didn’t want to know. There was no way that the paths actually led anywhere helpful or back to his real home. No, a part of him debated if maybe they led to what must be the only other possible encampment out there: the killer’s campfire. 

It was a sobering thought and one that Jake avoided most nights. After all, if those trails really did lead to their dreaded enemy, the next question that rose was what was stopping them from finding their way to the survivor’s camp? Perhaps the paths were only something he and the others could see, but Jake wasn’t willing to take that risk. Instead he marked trees that he passed with a broken shard of glass, even though it made no real difference. 

The forest, past a certain radius from the campfire, was constantly shifted and moved around. Whether or not the Entity merely rearranged the foliage in the blink of an eye or, a scarier idea, the plants themselves moved on their own was unknown. Jake assumed it was the former but sometimes when he took these walks he would swear he could hear something moving around behind him, causing the leaves to whisper and branches to crackle.

They’d been walking in silence for a while, which probably wasn’t good. Jake expected Ace to have started talking by now since, well, that was what he did, but no comments came from the other man. He followed along quietly, making sure that there was never too much distance between them just in case. And so it fell on him to begin the conversation, Jake realized. 

What an awful situation.

“You,” Jake began with great effort, “look alright for someone who got eaten.”

The way Ace startled at the sudden volume of his voice made Jake remember just how tactless he really was. Still, it hadn’t thrown the other man off yet. The gambler fiddled with his glasses self consciously and then coughed out an awkward bark of laugh in return.

“You shoulda seen me before I woke up.” The laugh strangled itself back into awkward silence, “You, uh, look kind of like a lumberjack.”

Oh, that’s right, Jake had forgotten that he hadn’t been shaving for those several days. His beard was something that grew quickly if he didn’t shave often and it occurred to him that he must look more ragged than usual. He grimaced and this time when Ace laughed, it was a little more genuine and with a hint of relief.

“Not that it’s a bad thing, man!” The gambler rubbed at his own goatee self consciously, “Wish I could grow a beard that intense.”

Did his ears deceive him or was that a smidgen of envy? Jake felt a smirk flourish on his face as he continued to stare at the other man, pausing his steps.

“You mean you can’t? Is our resident self-proclaimed ladies man actually a baby face?” He teased, causing Ace to squawk indignantly in protest.

Why had he avoided this? 

“Just cause’ I can’t look like a—a _gorilla_ , doesn’t mean you can hold that over me!” Ace spluttered, cheeks flushing red from embarrassment, “I look good!”

Jake made a thoughtful noise and stepped closer to the gambler, basking in all the little tells that he’d missed so much more than he liked to think about. Ace leaned his head back as he approached, apparently determined to try and puff himself up to appear larger than he was. Cute.

“Hmm.” Jake reached out a hand and grasped the other’s sunglasses, tugging them off his face without permission. He stared into Ace’s eyes for a moment too long, as though he were examining the other, and then leaned back with a satisfied smile and refocused his gaze onto the glasses he now held, “I agree.”

The crack running down the right lense had almost encompassed the entire width of the frame, which meant the sunglasses were one solid hit away from looking like a monocle. Ace was quiet beside him, though from his peripheral vision Jake could tell that he was doing his best to calm his reddened faced down. He probably thought Jake couldn’t see with how dark it was in the woods. Bad luck for him, considering Jake had spent enough time in the woods before being deposited in this realm, to have better eyesight than most. 

“You got another pair?”

“What?” Ace startled again, hand reflexively raising to mess with glasses that weren’t currently occupying his face.

“Sunglasses. These are more likely to poke your eye out during a trial than actually help anymore.” 

Ace scoffed, playing off whatever embarrassment that had made itself known, “What, you actually care about my safety or somethin’?”

And there it was, confirmation that Nea had been right. He couldn’t keep doing this; avoiding his problems and his feelings had caused a rift between he and gambler. Not acknowledging his return and not even speaking a word to him probably had the other man thinking he hated him or something. Jake didn’t want that. So he admitted to something he never thought he would.

“Yeah.” Despite everything, he found himself genuinely invested in the older man’s well being and not just his ass. Fuck. “Yeah, I do.”

With that he handed the sunglasses back and continued on with his walk, leaving Ace to gawp at his back in stunned silence for a moment. When he didn’t hear a second set of footsteps following after him, he turned back to look over his shoulder with a carefully neutral expression.

“You coming?” He cocked his eyebrow.

Ace puffed out a small disbelieving laugh, looking between his sunglasses and Jake before shaking his head and moving again, “Yeah. Yeah, you lead, I follow.”

***

The shared walking became a sort of ritual between them.

It became easier to allow another person into this private aspect of his life. In fact, it came a lot more quickly than Jake could have ever predicted. Ace constantly had things on his mind and whatever awkwardness that had formed between them slowly mended itself with every traipse through the woods. The gambler was good at keeping conversations going, even when Jake didn’t respond. It was like the floodgates had been opened and all of a sudden Visconti decided he had permission to ask whatever he liked, and talk about whatever was on his mind.

If it were any other person, Jake was positive he would have told them to leave him the fuck alone by now, but Ace’s genuine enthusiasm and good will was infectious. He found himself socializing more than he was used to with the gambler’s unasked help. Any time Ace spotted him hanging back in the tree line, he would call his name with glee and wave him over. And fuck if Jake could resist joining him every single time.

Nea noticed, and she loved it if her comments were anything to go by.

“So, how was the walk?” Was the first thing that came out of her mouth during one such night.

She was far too smug for Jake’s liking, casually sitting as she was with her back braced on one of the logs and an arm slung around the shoulders of none other than Laurie. Strode, for her part, tended to ignore them when they got to talking, having her own separate conversation with a quiet Quentin.

“How was the trial?” Jake sneered back, knowing damn well that she’d died due to her own stupid mistake. 

“Nice beard, Davey Crockett, decided to keep it? Or did _someone else_ think it looked nice?” 

“You’re lucky Laurie’s into mustaches.” Jake sat down heavily next to the girl, relishing her indignant spluttering.

“ _Oh my God._ ” Speak of the devil, Laurie’s attention focused on them with an annoyed air, “Can you two _please_ talk about anything else?”

Jake shrugged innocently, basking in Strode’s growing frustration towards him. While he and the other girl were on better terms than before, there was always going to be a certain amount of lingering animosity between them. Jake found himself content with this and he could tell Laurie was as well; it was as good as it was going to get.

“ _Fine._ ” Nea flopped back with a dramatic sigh and stared up at the starless sky, “You guys ever think about how we don’t have our periods anymore?”

“Nea!” Laurie squawked and slapped the other girl on the arm, as Nea cackled.

Quentin had choked on air from the sudden question, cheeks redder than Jake had ever seen them. It was amusing to watch the normally put together, if constantly exhausted, man at a loss for words when it came to anything regarding the female body. Definitely made him an easy target.

The moment felt...nice. On some level it actually felt normal, which was something Jake hadn’t realized he had been missing up until now. Humans either adapted to the crappy things life threw at them or they died, that was what his father had ingrained into his brain from a young age. A man who couldn’t do this, in his father’s opinion, was useless. So Jake had evolved once he’d been brought into the Entity’s realm and he’d made himself into something that could weather the harsh circumstances.

But maybe he didn’t have to be something so cold and cut off, and could find a way to keep going with help from others. Jake absently adjusted his scarf, running the fabric beneath his fingers, every inch of the cloth memorized by touch. He switched his attention back to his companions when he realized the laughteri had stopped and the mood had taken a turn into becoming something less pleasant.

“What?” He asked because he’d missed whatever had been said.

Laurie looked irritated that he’d been ignoring her but it was an emotion that was gone as soon as it had started, “I was saying it seems about time for another survivor to show up, don’t you think?”

She wasn’t wrong. Though they had no way of tracking months that passed, there was some instinctive grasp on feeling like a new cycle was about to begin. The only time they’d only received another companion without a new enemy was when Bill had awoken with a gasp and a background that sounded strange enough to be a tall tale. What it meant was soon they’d be forced into handling yet another murderous hunter and that the frequency in which they died was definitely going to increase. 

Some of the others thought that the Entity just liked to collect whatever it found interesting, but Jake thought it was something more. With every addition of a new hapless victim and unknown killer, it kept the survivors from growing too used to their situation, too comfortable. It made certain that a fine line was kept between despair and hope, and that the scale never tipped too heavily one way or the other. 

What a way to bring down the mood.

“Think I need another walk.” Jake grunted, despite having only sat with the trio for a short time. He pulled himself to his feet, trying not to let his expression sour too much. There were some topics he would never like to be discussed.

A different direction was picked and he trudged off towards the trees, intent on distracting himself somehow. Maybe he could carve something bigger than he normally did, that would probably shave off some of the tension gathering in his shoulders.

He didn’t make it far before he heard a familiar voice calling out behind him, and he paused to look back with a perplexed expression. Ace jogged up, grinning widely and obviously trying not to look like he was breathing too hard from trying to catch up.

“You move fast when you want to.” The gambler slowed to a walk, shaking his head wearily, “Is that why I can never find you during trials?”

“What are you doing?” Jake asked, because his confusion over why exactly Ace had hurried to walk with him again, even though he’d seen the man engaged in a card game when he’d left, was uncharacteristic of him. 

“You’re goin’ for another walk, yeah? Let’s go.” Ace gestured like it was the most obvious thing in the world. 

Well then. Jake fought the urge to smile at this ridiculous man and shrugged like he was unconcerned, continuing on. They didn’t make it very far before, true to form, Ace had a question ready.

“So, what do you miss most about home?” The gambler asked while they carefully picked their way through an area dark and tangled with numerous easy to trip on roots.

Jake contemplated this as he ran his hand over the bark of a tree, shuddering when the plant felt warmer than it had any right to be. The topic was oddly difficult to formulate an answer to because Jake didn’t like thinking about what he’d lost by being stuck here. Unlike being with Laurie and the others though, he felt oddly more able to speak about such things.

“Birds.” He decided, “Actual birds that are more than just crows.”

“Really?” Ace sounded surprised, “Damn, you’re gonna make me look bad.”

“That’s promising.” Jake snorted, finally succeeding in passing through the denser part of the forest and ending up standing on yet another random dirt path. He looked back at Ace who struggled more with making sure he didn’t twist his ankle, his shades definitely not helping his plight.

“Cheeseburgers.” The older man sighed as he joined him on the dirt path, “I know, _I know_ , very American of me. But man, you get a nice burger in front of me with some fries— _damn._ Wish we could get some food.”

Jake couldn’t help himself, he chuckled a little at the admittance and felt a twinge of warmth come to life in the pit of his stomach as he watched Ace light up. They continued on, ignoring either direction on the path and choosing to pick their way back into the woods. A few moments of comfortable silence passed before either of them spoke again.

“My parents were super traditional—well, my _father_ was, at least. He was always feeding us native dishes from his homeland, but honestly? I miss Mexican food.” The admittance was something that Jake realized he had never brought up with anyone. 

Back home he’d never really had friends. He’d had kids around him, sure, but they were also from wealthy families with far too much money and influence and his interactions with them had been polite at best. His brother, once passing a certain age, had also drifted from him, taking his one outlet away. Talking about his likes and dislikes felt exciting on some level, like he was doing something forbidden.

Ace let out a loud, startled laugh, but he nodded his head, “Wish I could take you somewhere to get some genuine Argentine grub. I bet it would knock your socks off and convert you for life!”

Jake found that he didn’t want the conversations to die off with that and for the first time felt himself making a genuine effort to engage in a round of twenty questions with the other man, “Favorite movie?”

“Honestly?” If Ace was surprised about this he didn’t make it known, something that Jake found himself appreciative of, “I wasn’t really a big movies guy. I know I probably don’t look the part, but even when I was young I didn’t have a lot of money to spare on, eh, _entertainment._ ”

“So gambling was different?” Jake dryly asked and Ace made a mock noise in offense, a hand slapping over his heart.

“Hey, gambling was my _job_! How bout’ you, did you even have cable out in your creepy cabin in the woods?”

He rolled his eyes but didn’t deny that from an outsider's perspective, his previous residence might seem unusual, “No. But I actually liked watching movies. My favorite was…”

“Yeah?” Ace prompted when Jake fell quiet.

“Me and my brother used to watch Star Wars a lot when we were younger. Guess I never grew out of it.” His tone had grown noticeably subdued he knew, but there was a sense of relief that came with baring yet another fact about himself.

“...I didn’t know you had a brother.” Ace cautiously commented as he ducked underneath a low hanging branch.

“Don’t feel bad.” Jake hoped he sounded nonchalant, “No one else does either.”

An awkward silence fell between them that was luckily broken after only a moment by the older man, “I miss having an actual bed.”

“Really?” Jake shot an unimpressed look behind him and Ace gleefully shrugged.

“Some of us have backs that don’t like sleeping on the ground all the time, Tarzan. Wish we had a—a _hot tub_ or something. _Damn_ —there’s a thought. Wish we had showers too!”

Jake’s mind very helpfully brought in image to mind of Ace in a shower. It was easy to imagine the water trickling down the man’s torso, running past his stomach and lower towards his thighs. His mop of hair would be plastered to his skull and his stupid hat and glasses would be missing, leaving him defenseless and so fascinating to take apart.

“Wish the Entity would bring a masseuse or somethin’ in here! At least then my back wouldn’t be killing me every time I tried to get some shut eye!” Ace continued to complain.

His imagination changed Ace to lying flat on his stomach, and him running his hands over his shoulder blade and tracing the length of his spine. He would drag his nails into Ace’s sides, grip his hips tightly and knead the flesh there with intent enough to make the gambler twitch and flinch with every motion. And then, when the older man grew impatient and tried to get him to continue his exploration, he would ignore any attempts to focus on his cock and lavish his affections on the man’s ass instead. Had Ace ever been with a man? Jake bet he hadn’t, and fuck if that wasn’t a tantalizing thought.

“Hello? Anybody home?” Ace waved a hand in front of Jake’s face, and Jake blinked, realizing that he had stopped walking.

There was a small amount of sweat trickling down the gambler’s jawline, slowly making its way towards his collarbones. Jake wanted to lick and bite and—

“Sex.” He abruptly flung the word out into the open and Ace paused his hand waving to stare owlishly up at him.

“What?”

“I miss sex.” It felt so good to say it, “Haven’t had a good fuck in a while.”

Jake ravenously watched the sweat trail over the other man’s adam’s apple, bobbing as he swallowed. He was leaning in towards the other man, he knew, but it felt right. He was so _hungry_ , and knew in this moment of clarity that he needed to bend this man over if he’d let him. This back and forth had dragged on for so long and he’d been so very patient. 

“I, uh, didn’t expect that.” Ace’s grin wobbled slightly, “Can’t say I don’t miss it either.”

This was going to go nowhere unless Jake made his intentions clear, he knew. The thing about Ace was that the gambler was always willing to dance around the truth and continue on with the charade for as long as it took. Jake preferred a more direct approach when it came down to it.

So he leaned in further into the smaller man’s space and placed an arm around Ace’s shoulders, drawing him in so that his intention couldn’t be mistaken for anything else when he said, “Can I fuck you?”

And he waited for the other man’s answer.


	8. Chapter 8

He was inside a building. 

This in and of itself wasn’t unusual as the various realms had buildings scattered within them, but what quickly became apparent was that there was no outside portion to speak of. Every door lead to another cold, concrete room and hazy fluorescent lights. Some of the places the survivors were lead to were more apparent than others in being wrong, and this one was no exception. 

Whatever this building had been in the real world spoke of an insidious evil that, even with the Entity’s troubles in replicating their actual world, had signs of extensive torture; from the scratches on the ground that could have only been made by human nails, to the old dried blood decorating the walls. Jake was not often put in such a heavy position of unease when it came to the actual dimensions he was sent to, but this one was giving him a run for his money. 

Any step taken was given extra caution as he traversed the frustratingly confusing length of what he soon found out was only the first floor to the building. How was he meant to have the same manner of stealth with only leftover equipment and packing to duck behind or underneath? Everything felt so...out in the open and exposed, it made his skin crawl. 

“Jesus Christ.” Someone huffed behind him and he nearly stiffened enough to trip. 

When he whirled around Nea was crouched behind him with a wry smile on her face and the same amount of pinched worry over the new building. They both took a moment to quietly hide behind a stack of crates and gauge their safety before speaking again.

“This place feels welcoming.” Nea dryly commented, eyes darting between Jake and the open hallway to her side.

“I get the feeling we aren’t making it out.” Jake mumbled, squinting as he spotted a totem in the distance. He’d have to take care of that before moving on, especially since he was so unfamiliar with the in and outs of the building.

“Yeah.” Nea exhaled lowly, “Probably. You get in a fight with Ace?”

The conversation change nearly gave Jake whiplash and he couldn’t help himself when he turned back towards Nea with a frown. She nodded and nudged him with her shoulder, an action, Jake realized, that he wouldn’t have allowed in the past. 

“He was acting weird after your walk. Are you guys okay…?”

It was another sure sign of their growing friendship that Jake actually wanted to talk to the woman about everything that had happened. Or at least enough to where he could share his conflicted feelings and maybe make the load easier to bear.

“We’ll see.” Jake noncommittally replied, because even if he wanted to talk to Nea about the walk, he owed it to Ace to at least allow the man to reach his decision first. “Let’s get to work.”

There was no time to waste on chatting about these things during a trial anyways. Not when they had no clue which corridor led where and what their adversary was bringing to the table, and with no sign of the other survivors, they were essentially on their own for now. Nea nodded grimly at him, her expression settling back smoothly into something tired but determined.

And then they left their hiding place as quickly and quietly as they could.

***

_“What?” Ace sounded hoarse._

_“I said, can I fuck you?” Jake repeated and kept his gaze trained on the other man. He felt the inexplicable urge to pick at old scabs on his hands that were the result of all the woodwork he’d done. Apparently the Entity was willing to heal them right up from death by the hands of the hook or killer, but decided that the accidental cuts to his fingers and palms wasn’t worth its time._

_He’d expected Ace to have answered by now, but the gambler had taken on something of a slack-jawed expression. This went on long enough to warrant a small nudge from Jake, just to make sure he hadn’t broken the other man._

_Ace cleared his throat once, and then again, before slipping out from under Jake’s arm. When he straightened his face was guarded but confused. It made Jake’s heart sink for a reason he couldn’t identify as the atmosphere around the two thickened with the wrong kind of tension._

_“I heard you I just—well, I guess I thought I was hallucinating or something there for a second.” The gambler barked out an awkward laugh, uncomfortable and grating on Jake’s nerves, “So, uh, is this why you’ve been so friendly lately?”_

_Ace was radiating signs of offense, Jake realized. How had he not caught onto that sooner? He was so good at reading the other normally. A quick review of the words in his head only made him more confused—had he said something wrong? The other man had previously always appreciated his truthfulness, and he’d thought...he’d thought this wouldn’t be different._

_“This is a little weird, right?” Ace chuckled again in the same manner, “Usually this kind of thing happens to women, the whole guys befriends you n’ then turns out he just wants to sleep with you.”_

_Wait, what?_

_His brows furrowed in confusion and mounting frustration the more Ace rambled on about his interpretation of the question. Why were people so confusing? Why did he have to care about what Ace thought of him? Why couldn’t Ace just understand what he meant? That would make things much easier._

_“I don’t really want to be friends anymore.” Jake bluntly interrupted the other man, and then felt the urge to backpedal when Ace’s expression took an even darker turn._

_“Great. Gotcha loud and clear, I won’t bother you anymore if—”_

_“I want to be more than friends, Ace. As in dating.” Jake exasperatedly cut him off once more, attempting to make things as clear as possible before the situation grew any worse, “And, if you’d also let me, I’d like to have sex with you.”_

_The gambler was frozen in place once more, mouth still open for a second too long before it audibly clicked shut. The worrying look on Ace’s face though was relenting and clearing up into understanding finally, and he stopped putting distance between them. Jake didn’t try to reduce the gap between them, knowing enough to allow the other the choice of whether or not he wanted to stay away from him._

_Fuck, this really hadn’t gone at all like he’d expected and the longer the uncomfortable atmosphere drew out, the more Jake felt antsy and regretful for bringing the question up in the first place. This was why he didn’t ever open up to people, it left him too vulnerable for when they inevitably turned on him._

_“I don’t get it. Why would you want to date me? I mean, I know I’m a fun guy but,” Ace gestured half heartedly to his person with a smile that didn’t reach his eyes, “well, there are, uh, other men more your age range…?”_

_Ah. So this was about Ace’s hidden insecurities now. There was no reason for the other man to feel that way, but Jake could understand how irrational the brain could be._

_“I don’t want them.” Jake patiently explained, “I want you. I like you.”_

_“It’s that simple, huh?” Ace’s grin flared up._

_“Yes.” Jake leaned back on his heels and watched him carefully, “It is.”_

_Another tense silence followed the reassurance, and for the life of him Jake honestly couldn’t tell whether or not the man was still offended or open to the idea of dating. If he needed a break then Ace definitely did, and so Jake gave him an out as gently as he could manage._

_“Why don’t you think on it. Give it a few days, or trials, and then give me an answer. If you don’t want this, fine, we go back to how things were. If you do, we can figure everything else out later. Deal?”_

_The moment of truth. Jake waited and masked how tense his body was underneath his heavy coat and pants. The seconds that ticked by felt like hours, causing him to feel hyper aware of everything around him. The gambler sized him up one last time, as though he was making sure Jake wasn’t lying to him, and then relented with a short nod._

_“Deal.” Ace agreed._

***

Detective Tapp was a very observant man, which Jake would have assumed anyways given his occupation. Tapp was also, much to his relief, able to adapt to most anything quickly enough to make him appear as though he was a seasoned veteran of the Entity’s realm. 

Jake would find out later as he sat by the campfire and nursed a headache that had followed him even with his resurrection, that perhaps the reason why Detective Tapp was so good at handling the crazy shit thrown at them, was because he himself had handled a situation just as bizarre during his previous life. He definitely had the same air about him that Laurie, Quentin, and Bill did when someone asked about what things were like for them before. 

It hadn’t taken long for the older man to catch onto the fact that Ace, for instance, didn’t exactly have a clean record and probably had dealings with less than savory characters. All of this was gleaned from just one trial, which was even more impressive, or terrifying depending on how one looked at it. This was the primary reason, in fact, that the duo had been found glaring at each other and with the sort of tension in their shoulders that spoke of a former argument. 

At the time there’d been no spare moment to try and figure out what had transpired between them thanks to one specific problem.

Bear traps. Of all things, bear traps—or reverse bear traps? Every time the group thought each killer couldn’t get worse, something new and even worse was piled onto their weary shoulders. In this case it was the awful trap that was placed around their heads, a ticking time bomb that required even more pain to free themselves.

Jake’s jaw had ached so deeply from the way the metal pressed into his skull that it had felt like it was reaching his brain. And the killer, well, the killer had been just as horrifying with the way that she could stealthily move around the maze of a building, the pig’s face in place of her own painting a haunting picture. If he had managed to get the trap off of his head, he would’ve probably had deep gouges left behind in his cheeks.

He had almost managed to do so, he thought, and if he’d realized there were mechanisms around the building that would free him from the terrifying ordeal sooner, he would’ve probably at least died on hook. He hadn’t though. 

When he’d found Ace and Tapp, it had been to the rhythm of a timer reaching its end, steadily beeping and alerting anyone near to his plight. Ace had stood from his position, crouched and working on a generator, and reached out towards him with a terrified look on his face. The detective had only looked away with a grimace, well aware of what was about to transpire and obviously not wanting to witness it. 

The timer reached its end right before Ace was close enough to touch him, Jake had felt something spring in the contraption before his head was being pulled in two different directions. His jaw snapped away from the top of his skull with a sickening crack, pain screaming at him, and then the world went black. 

It was probably a small mercy that death was nearly instantaneous when his head split open like a melon. If he’d stayed alive for even a few moments longer after his bones broke, Jake was certain he would’ve lost some of his sanity. 

Even more of a sign of mercy was the speed at which he was returned to his feet, though perhaps not without consequences due to the headache that still haunted him. The campfire had been devoid of the other three survivors who had been with him during the trial, which was unusual enough for the others to assume the worst: that everyone had died obscenely fast. 

“What happened?” Dwight had asked him, concerned but respectful enough to not breach any of his boundaries. Jake hadn’t replied other than to grunt and make his way to his tree, sitting down heavily to lean against it. 

He’d fallen asleep, or at least into a hazy half slumber, littered with nightmares replaying Ace’s horrified expression and the pain of the metal trap digging into his skin. Back in the beginning, when it had only been four of them, he’d had regular nightmares involving grinning masks, revving chainsaws, and the ringing of bells that never were quite far enough away to stop running. Since then he’d thought he’d grown used to the horrors enough to warrant the nightmares ease off, but apparently all it took was something just terrifying enough to bring them back.

A hand on his shoulder startled him awake, jerking him back to reality so violently that he nearly lashed out at the person who had touched him. Any hope about his headache being gone by the time he woke up was dashed when he realized his jaw must have been clenched, grinding his teeth together as he dreamed. He was able to ignore the still throbbing pain though, in favor of staring into Ace’s troubled eyes.

“Sorry.” Ace jerked his hand away and sat back on his heels, fingers fiddling with the buttons of his shirt.

“Did you,” His throat was raspy enough to need to clear it, “did you make it out?”

“...Yeah.” Ace exhaled shakily, “Just me though.”

Well. Detective Tapp was in for an enlightening experience when he next woke up. 

“You’re one lucky guy.” Jake mumbled, giving the other man a tentative small smile.

Ace tried to grin back, but the gesture fumbled and wobbled into a very raw and upset wince. His hands were shaking, Jake realized, even as they clenched and unclenched. Did something else happen during the trial? Concern flared up in Jake’s gut and compelled him to lean forward, laying a tentative hand on Ace’s leg.

“Are you okay?” He asked, quietly enough to avoid any eavesdroppers, though amazingly, it looked like the others were actually giving them space.

_“Am I—_?” The gambler choked out in surprise, “Are you serious? _You’re_ the one who got his head split open!”

The other man’s voice was steadily rising as the reason for his concern was voiced, but Jake didn’t stop him from speaking, “I mean, do you even know what that looks like? Your jaw was just hanging by a thread and your tongue was—there was so much blood, Jake!”

Ace’s voice cracked and he finally seemed to realize how loud he’d gotten, one of his hands clenched around Jake’s tightly. He took a moment to catch his breath, sinking down to his knees and hunching in on himself. 

“It was worse than the hooks.” The gambler spoke up again, quieter but strained, “Because I couldn’t— _we_ couldn’t do anything to help you. Just fucking watched.”

“I’m sorry.” Jake murmured and tightened his grip on Ace’s hand when the older man tried to jerk away indignantly, “I’m serious. I’m sorry you had to see that.”

Ace’s expression crumpled further and his resolve to hold onto some measure of his composure waned as he leaned towards Jake as though he meant to rest his brow on his shoulder. He wouldn’t do it in front of the others, Jake knew. That would be far too vulnerable of a position for him to handle when his emotions were so out of control.

Jake knew what to do.

“Hey.” He nudged Ace’s leg with their clasped hands, “Let’s go for a walk.”

This time he didn’t wait for a response, choosing instead to pull himself to his feet and then Ace, never once releasing his hold on his hand. The others could definitely see their interlocked fingers, but Jake didn’t mind. There was nothing to be worried about when it came to he and the gambler anymore, he decided, and so there was nothing anyone could do or say that would stop him.

It was definitely a little strange that it took his head basically exploding for him to reach this level of calm and security in the other man, but then again, his own affection for the man hadn’t exactly stemmed from a normal situation either. Although, he would definitely need to keep that one to himself. 

Their walk was along the usual path, with no care about the speed at which they were stepping through the forest. At times, when Jake thought for sure that the other man would want to take his hand away, he was met only with Ace’s grip retightening on him and it made his chest clench in a pleasant way. He’d never felt this way about someone before, and he could start to understand now why people went so crazy about relationships. 

Ace’s brows were slowly smoothing from their clenched and worried position, which allowed Jake room to begin talking again. 

“Feel a little better?” He asked, glancing down at the man carefully.

When Ace chuckled this time it felt more real, weak as it was. “You’re like a mama bear or somethin’, I swear. If the others knew what you were really like your reputation would be shot, man.”

“Jake.” 

“Huh?” 

“I liked it when you called me by my name. You never do that.” Jake’s other hand raised to fiddle with his scarf in a telling self conscious way, but he didn’t hide the movement. When Ace used his name their conversations felt more intimate and less like the average friend, it was nice.

“Gotcha.” Ace’s cheeks and ears flared red, and he ducked his head a little to half heartedly hide a smile sneaking up onto his face. “Fuck me, this is ridiculous, we’re acting like a couple of schoolboys.”

Abruptly Jake snickered at the mental image, and then genuinely laughed, having to take a moment to pause from their walking so that he didn’t trip on a root. Maybe it was because of how ridiculous the situation was—trapped in another world with some eldritch being forcing them repeatedly into life or death situations and the duo were more timid about _holding hands_ than facing a killer with a chainsaw— but he didn’t try to stop laughing, the sound foreign to his ears but welcome nonetheless. 

Ace stared at him with wide eyes, definitely caught off guard by the action, but his grin grew wider and infinitely more pleased for making the resident lone wolf relax this much. He looked between them, to their joined hands still remaining clasped even now, and then back up at Jake with a hint of nervousness. 

“I think I’d like to try the dating thing.” He announced, at first much more meekly than Jake would have expected from him, but then puffing himself up with all his usual flare, “And the sex thing.”

Jake’s good mood reached a new high that had previously never been possible in this purgatory, elation surging through his veins. He was grinning and he probably looked a little dopey, he knew, but he was...fuck, he was happy. Happier than he thought he could ever be, even before the Entity and the trials. 

“You’re embarrassing yourself.” Ace dramatically pointed out, cocking his hip and gesturing with his hand, “You understand that, right? I have so much blackmail material on you now, I could write a book about it.” 

“Really? You’d write a book about me?” Jake teased, leaning towards the other man. 

Ace fumbled a little, though didn’t step away from the advancement, “This is all going right to your head, isn’t it? That’s just what we need, Jake “Loudmouth” Park getting even more high and mighty from a few compliments.”

The distance between their faces was rapidly shrinking and when Jake murmured, it was a hairsbreadth away from Ace’s lips, “Loudmouth, huh? You sure we’re talking about the same guy?”

Ace made a strangled noise, his gaze transfixed on Jake’s own lips. The red flush on his face had deepened and crawled down his neck, warm enough to share body heat. The gambler ripped his glasses off, tucking them into the pocket of his jacket with little care for the still broken lense and his rough treatment.

There was only a moment to realize what the other man had done, at the importance of the gesture, and then Ace was leaning into him, pressing their lips together. It wasn’t rough and it was tame enough to signal that the older man was giving him an out to the action, as though it was Jake who had been propositioned and not the other way around. Jake felt both amusement and another jolt of happiness at the way the man was actually choosing to start whatever happened between them. 

He rewarded the action by pressing back against Ace, deepening the kiss as he raised his free hand to the back of the gambler’s neck, anchoring him in place. There had been many girls in the past that he’d done the same action with, but none of them had felt as good as this did. It wasn’t something rushed, instead he moved languidly against the other, savoring the heat that was shared between them. Ace released his hand to bring his own arms up, placing them gingerly on either side of Jake with the sort of tentativeness that came from a man unused to being the shorter party when it came to kissing.

Jake didn’t mind as it was endearing and he mirrored the action, wrapping his free arm around Ace’s own waist and pulling them together even closer. The other man’s goatee was scratchy against his jaw and his own facial hair, though not uncomfortable in the slightest. The thick hair that Jake had laced his fingers through felt good enough to grab and pull, and so he decided to test the waters, closing his hand around it and tugging lightly but firmly. 

The way that Ace’s breath stuttered at the action, a small gasp exiting his lips, had the muscles in Jake’s abdomen and thighs tightening. He tugged harder, not rough enough to hurt, and this time leaned back in more insistently, encouraging the other man to open his mouth. Usually Jake didn’t care for adding in tongue to kissing, but the way that he was able to lick into the other made him feel hungry for more, to keep this going for as long as he could. 

The hands around his waist tightened, their grip on his coat scrunching up the fabric and attempting to pull him somehow closer. There wasn’t anywhere else for him to go, given that they were practically chest to chest, and so instead Jake finally pulled back. He kept his grip on Ace’s hair, pleased at the sight of his half lidded eyes and reddened lips, and then moved lower to mouth at his jawline and neck.

A startled chuckle had him pausing his exploration and Ace grinned apologetically down at him, “Sorry. Neck’s kinda sensitive.”

Jake wryly smiled, pulling back and letting go of the other man’s head to massage the spot he had been insistently pulling. The gambler leaned into the feeling, relaxing from the tension that had begun coiling in his own body.

“Can’t say I’ve met many people whose necks are ticklish.” He commented.

“Usually it’s not a problem—though, I gotta say all the women I’ve been with never had beards to deal with.”

Jake snorted but ceased mouthing at the other’s neck to straighten and curiously look the older man in the eyes. There was a level of calm around Ace that had never been there before, it was a good look for him. It was vulnerable and open, but welcoming. A question that he’d wanted the answer to for a while now came to the forefront as he continued to rub out the knots and tense muscles at the base of Ace’s skull, and he decided now was as good a time as any to ask.

“Have you ever been with a man before?”

To his credit Ace didn’t even flinch, “Nah. Had a few propositions when I was younger, but never was interested in any of em’. You?”

“A few.” Jake conceded, “Tried out both ways too, though I can say I don’t exactly care for having things up my ass.”

“Did it hurt or somethin’?” Ace curiously stared up at him.

“No, just felt weird enough in the end to not be something I’d do.” It was a little odd explaining this to the older man, though he supposed in this case he was technically the veteran of the two.

Ace inhaled loudly, nodding to himself, and then smirked at him, “So what you’re saying is you want me to be on the receiving end.”

Jake huffed out a small laugh and then moved to sit them both down, leaned against a tree. With a little coaxing Ace leaned his back against Jake’s chest, though not without grumbling about how he was a full grown man too, and Jake could just as easily lean against him. It was adorable. He looped his arms around the older man’s waist and adjusted so that he could peer over the other’s shoulder.

“It’d be nice if you did.” Jake admitted, “But sex with another man isn’t even about penetration a lot of times, just like with women. Plus, I’d say we work up to you handling a dick.”

“Christ you’re making me feel like a teenager going through sex ed.” Ace groaned, thumping his head back onto Jake’s shoulder, “You really have a way with bedroom talk.”

The gambler’s hat was nabbed by one of Jake’s hands, and he held it between his fingers with a considering stare.

“Bedroom talk, huh?” He murmured, “Would you prefer I tell you all about the kind of things I’ve been thinking about doing to you?”

That got a small knee jerk reaction out of Ace, a slight reddening of his cheeks and aversion of his eyes. The older man was definitely out of his usual comfort zone when it came to sexual encounters, and Jake could chalk that up to him usually not relinquishing this much control to another. God, it felt so good.

“The first time I ever dreamed about you, I had you on the ground and my hand around your neck. You’re a loud guy, you know that right? Of course you do.” Jake brought his mouth next to Ace’s ear, tracing the outside of it as he spoke, “So you were laying there whimpering and whining cause’ I wouldn’t give you a proper handjob. And you were so hard, _Visconti_ , but you couldn’t do anything about it because I wouldn’t let you. You were gonna cum when I decided you begged pretty enough for it.”

Ace made a sound that maybe was an attempt at some sort of laugh to brush off what Jake was saying, but Jake barreled on, “When we were in that closet and I had you up against the back of it, I couldn’t stop thinking about holding you in place and marking you all over. Needed everyone to see the bruises so that they knew someone had their way with you. We would’ve had to stay so quiet or else the Wraith would’ve found us, and damn, that would’ve been hard for you. Would’ve had to give you something to suck on to keep your mouth occupied cause’ you never stop talking.”

“Although, you’re good with your fingers too aren’t you, Ace? I bet you’d be a natural at giving a handjob, bet your hands would be perfect for taking another man’s cock and I bet you wouldn’t be able to resist trying to use your mouth. You wouldn’t know what to do at first, but you wouldn’t be able to stop because it’d feel so good to feel that weight on your tongue. Loudmouths, right? Always needing attention, even when they’re choking on dick.”

“In fact, I think you’d like being restrained and put on display, Visconti. Just a pretty picture to be admired and used, so that you didn’t have to do any work or even think, just enjoy the feeling and the praise.”

The neck that Jake was now moving his mouth faintly against, causing little twitches, was flushed a deep shade of red. He dropped the hat to the side, his other hand reaching up to toy with the buttons to Ace’s shirt, only popping one free before idly drifting downwards to circle around what he could feel was a hardening nipple. He curiously pinched it, delighted by the surprised flinch and moan that escaped the other man. The nub was rolling between his fingers only for another short moment before he was moving on to the other, teasing it through the button up. 

“Fuck.” Ace’s voice was strained, “Anyone else know you got a mouth on you?”

Jake noncommittally hummed in response, gaze trained on the bulge beginning to form in the front of the man’s pants. He reached down with his other hand, running his fingers lightly over the fabric and only applying the barest hint of pressure. Ace flinched again and his hips stuttered, instinctively thrusting towards the feeling as his thighs fell open a little wider. 

Another button was popped loose, and when Ace moved to try and help the situation along, Jake tightened his grip around his chest and waist, yanking him back against his chest. Ace gave a startled cry and craned his neck to look over to him in confusion.

“No touching or helping.” Jake instructed, his voice a rumble in his chest, “Or we stop.”

The gambler swallowed hard, uncertainty clouding his expression. Jake waited patiently, allowing him time to decide if he was alright with this and if he wanted to continue. A moment passed and then Ace nodded slowly, relaxing his arms to rest on either side of Jake. 

“We don’t have to do it this way if you don’t want to.” Jake murmured, checking one last time to ensure that there wasn’t any miscommunication happening.

“No, ah,” Ace croaked, “it’s good. We’re good.”

Cute.

Jake’s serious expression melted into a sharp smirk as he loosened his grip on the other man, going back to tracing the hardening dick tenting Ace’s pants. A third button came free and then he traced the collarbones of the older man, toying with inching closer to his throat but then sinking back down to tug at a nipple and drag his nails over a pectoral then down his abdomen, soft from a previous lifestyle of gambling and drinking. 

Ace was tensing beneath his handling, obviously straining to get some sort of relief for his ever present hard on, though he kept his hands clenched to the side. His thighs were shaking a little, probably from the strain of keeping them up and from falling open completely, and it made Jake more determined to make the man lose control. He freed the button to Ace’s pants, deliberately unzipping them slowly while his other hand pressed into the top of the gambler’s navel, anchoring him down so that he could feel Jake’s own cock against his back. 

There was wetness staining the man’s boxers, a light red pair of Calvin Klein’s that had Jake snorting in amusement. Of course Ace would wear the expensive brand. He ran his fingers along his length chubbing up underneath the thinner fabric, appreciatively drinking in the sight of the hair that ran from his navel past the underwear. 

“Pretty eager.” He teased and relished the way Ace tried for exasperation but landed on desperation.

“It’s been a while. Can’t say I’ve been doing this lately.” The gambler ground out, and then bit back a small moan of a relief when his cock was finally freed from the confines of his boxers.

“Let’s hope you last long enough to leave a good impression, old man.” 

“Old ma— _ah!_ ” Ace’s voice cracked into a groan, his hands scrambling to hold onto Jake’s thighs as a hand was closed around his dick.

Jake hooked his chin over Ace’s shoulder, watching the way the gambler’s dick drooled eagerly from the attention with a mix of hunger and satisfaction. The arm around Ace’s waist tightened to keep him in place as he stroked his hand along the other man’s length, gathering precome each time his hand crested the top and using it as makeshift lubricant so that the action wasn’t rough and uncomfortable. He didn’t pick up pace, simply alternated between skimming lightly over the cock and then tightening his grip to allow more friction. 

At another time he wanted to use his mouth instead and see how long Ace could last while he sucked him off, especially if he kept the hands off rule, but for now this would do.

“Help me out.” Jake smacked Ace’s leg to get his attention, briefly pausing his ministrations to indicate he wanted to tug the other man’s pants down. Ace grunted unhappily but lifted his ass enough for Jake to wiggle his pants lower, freeing them past his knees to rest somewhere around his ankles. Jake then took hold of his scarf and folded it, slipping it beneath his companion so that he wouldn’t have to rest his bare skin on the less welcoming forest floor.

“It’s gonna get dirty.” Ace protested, but Jake shushed him. He’d gotten blood, dirt, and who knows what else on all his clothes, jizz wasn’t going to make a huge difference.

With the gambler’s pants out of the way, Jake was free to run his hands along every inch of the man that he saw fit to explore. He grasped the other’s cock once more and gave it a firm pull, rubbing lazy circles beneath the head, and watched his hips twitch helplessly into the motion. His other hand twisted the gambler’s shirt, jerking it to one side enough to reveal one of his pectorals and allow him a front row seat to watching as his own hand pinched and rolled the nipple, turning the area a lovely shade of red from the abuse. 

Biting down on Ace’s neck was out of the question for now, but that didn’t necessarily mean that he had to avoid the area. He gave the nipple one last tug before raising his hand to lightly wrap his fingers around Ace’s neck, brushing over his adam’s apple and applying the barest of pressure as his other hand continued its motions. Moans and little whines of distress were coming in a constant stream as Ace steadily was unable to keep the noise down amidst his heavying breath. 

One of the older man’s hands released its grasp on Jake’s pants to try and reach for his dick, and as soon as Jake noticed, he tightened his hold around Ace’s neck without warning. It made the gambler let out an ungainly squeak in surprise as his throat was too cut off to emit any other noise, and the hand that had been reaching for his cock changed directions to grasp at Jake’s forearm. Jake moved his head briefly back to whisper again into the other’s ear, “I said no touching.”

Ace panted heavily, not fighting the hand against his throat, and nodded a few times jerkily. Jake smiled at him, all teeth and sharp enough to cut.

“Good.”

He released his tight hold, relaxing his fingers back into loosely cupping the area. There was enough precome now to allow Jake, at least, a little step into new territory for the older man.

“I’m assuming you know what a prostate is.” He calmly intoned, internally delighted at the way Ace had enough sense about him to cock a sarcastic eyebrow in his direction, “Of course you do. I take it the only time you’ve talked about it is in a doctor’s office?”

Warily, Ace nodded, still catching his breath. Jake slid his hand lower, past the man’s balls to circle his entrance.

“Consider this your introduction to penetration.” Jake began to press one finger inside, his middle, but then paused, “Anytime you need me to stop, you’ll tell me, right?”

“Christ, Jake, I’m not made of glass.” Ace finally groaned, though the way his ears flushed at the care he was being given painted a different picture.

Jake rested his head over the other’s shoulder once more and only replied, “Suit yourself.”, before sinking his finger in.

It wouldn’t hurt or feel much like anything other than foreign and a little odd, Jake knew. But there was no need for more than one finger and the sight of his digit disappearing into the other’s hole was causing those muscles in his abdomen to tighten further, his own hips twitching minutely against Ace’s backside.

Ace was visibly having to resist the temptation of reaching for his own throbbing and neglected dick as the seconds ticked past, if the way he squirmed in place was any indication. What an impatient man he was dealing with. Jake shouldn’t have been surprised.

Then his finger crooked in just the right way to brush against the area he’d been looking for, not causing an extreme reaction, just a small surprised jolt from the older man. He smirked, taking his time to thrust his finger in and out, always ensuring that he was rubbing along the other’s prostate, waking the clump of nerves up. He wasn’t sure how long this continued, nor did he care, only gauging how things were coming along through Ace’s reactions.

The man had, at first, been mostly unresponsive to the treatment just as Jake had assumed. As he continued to be fingered, however, Jake caught onto his breath quickening and eyes getting a distinctly hazy quality to them, and the gambler seemed unaware of the fact that his legs had fallen open wider to allow easier access to his hole. Ace didn’t take his eyes off of Jake’s hand, his body adjusting every so often to angle his hips better for the intrusion.

“Feel good?” Jake innocently asked, faintly grinding his palm against the man’s perineum as he thrust his finger. Ace inhaled sharply and tensed, his breath coming out more erratically as the motions continued.

There was a helplessness to the way his brows began to scrunch and his mouth couldn’t stay closed, it was addictive. The remaining hand on Jake’s leg was clenching hard enough to pull the fabric tighter over his own cock, providing a savory amount of pressure. 

“N-not bad.” Ace wheezed, before biting his lip as Jake moved his hand in a particular way that had his eyes rolling back. He whimpered as Jake repeated it, avidly watching the other’s face.

“Yeah, I think you’d be good at handling dick, huh?” Jake warmly said, chuckling when Ace whined lowly in his throat.

“You’re—you’re a fuckin’ _demon._ ” 

“Rude.” Jake responded and then pulled his hand free, ignoring the way Ace’s eyes shot back open and he moved to protest. 

No words were allowed past the other’s lips as Jake once more clamped down on his throat and grasped his cock, this time applying firm pressure and not letting up as his hand moved up and down the shaft. Ace was leaking enough precome to drip spots onto his scarf but Jake didn’t stop, only tightened his grip on the gambler’s neck and continued to jack the other off with an intensity he couldn’t hide any longer. 

Ace was able to choke out whimpers, spine tensing against Jake’s chest as his feet failed to find purchase, tangled as his legs were in his pants. His eyes were squeezed shut and his fingers were white knuckled as they gripped onto Jake like he was a lifeline. The gambler’s cries heightened in pitch as he was allowed no break, voice cracking and breaking attractively in a way that Jake finally allowed himself one thing as it all reached a fever pitch.

He lowered his mouth to the crook of Ace’s neck and shoulder, first kissing the chosen spot and then clamping his teeth down harshly into the man’s flesh. Ace’s eyes opened in shock, mouth opening to a little “oh” in surprise, as Jake sucked hard. And then he tightened and emitted what Jake could only describe as a garbled and strangled squeal as he finally orgasmed, cum splattering over Jake’s hand and painting strips on the man’s own shirt. 

Jake stroked him through until his cock was spent, relinquishing his grip on the older man’s neck and moving his arm to curl around his middle and hold him in place while Ace fell limp against him. He wiped his hand against his pant leg carelessly, taking more effort to drink in the sight of a fucked out Ace Visconti.

Ace was struggling to catch his breath, arms hanging by his sides and legs loosely splayed out in such an obscene way that Jake struggled to control himself. The hickey he had sucked onto the gambler’s shoulder was already turning a bright crimson and purple, a giant mark that labeled Ace as his. It sated something inside him to look at it, made him feel calmer even with a raging hard on.

“You, uh,” Ace panted, “you need any help with that?” 

He rolled his hips backwards enough to send a pleasurable spike jolting down Jake’s spine as he brushed against his dick. Jake smirked, opening his mouth to respond, only to realize that things were going a bit hazy around the edges.

No fucking way.

“ _Shit._ ” He hissed, sitting upright abruptly enough to garner a sleepy protest from the gambler, “I’m being sent to a trial.”

“What?!” Ace too sat up, though much more sluggishly, “You’re kidding me!”

“Wish I was.” Jake grumbled, checking to make sure he had everything necessary on his person and regretting that he was having to maneuver himself out from underneath Ace. His vision continued to flicker to black which meant he only had a few moments. So he took a deep breath and gazed down at Ace, cautious still despite everything. “Do you...want to do this again?”

Ace scoffed and shot him a cheeky grin, “You bet your ass I do. Can’t let you have all the fun, right?” 

Jake cracked his own smile, relief tangible.

“And Jake?” Ace fumbled with his jacket, twisted as his clothes were around him.

“Yeah?”

“Take these.” He tossed his cracked sunglasses towards him, “Think of em’ as a good luck charm.”

Jake caught the glasses and took one last look at the other man, warmth flooding him and making even his toes tingle. His vision faded completely and when he next opened his eyes he was standing in the vast expanse of a field, stalks of corn endlessly stretching and a house looming in the distance. He didn’t feel worried or anxious though as he peered down at the pair of sunglasses still clasped in hand.

“Hey.” Claudette voiced from behind him as she crept up, “Everything alright?”

He pocketed the glasses and turned towards her, well aware that his scarf was missing and he looked like a little bit of a mess. Even still, he gave her a reassuring nod.

“Yeah.” It really was.

 

 

END.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I can’t believe this monstrosity is finally done and that this chapter ended up being 17 pages long. Hope the sex sequence was alright considering I don’t really ever write em’—you can tell I was more interested in everything happening before and after it. :’^)
> 
> Anyways, thank you so much for sticking with this story, guys! All your kind comments were really what encouraged me to finish this thing, so it’s all thanks to ya’ll!
> 
> I’m planning on a potential sequel story to take place in the same timeline with Quentin/David, but we’ll see when/if that’ll happen. As it is I’m still surprised that I wrote an actual full story about a spur of the moment crack ship. Hope ya’ll enjoyed it!


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